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Nervenheilkunde 2018; 37(11): 792-798
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1675697
Universitätsklinikum Ulm
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Epigenetik der Depression

Epigenetics of depression
S. Sanwald
1   Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie III, Universitätsklinikum Ulm
,
C. Montag
2   Abteilung Molekulare Psychologie, Institut für Psychologie und Pädagogik, Universität Ulm
3   The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
,
M. Kiefer
1   Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie III, Universitätsklinikum Ulm
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

eingegangen am: 01 September 2018

angenommen am:. 13 September 2018

Publication Date:
30 October 2018 (online)

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Zusammenfassung

Moderne ätiologische Theorien erklären die Entstehung der Major Depression durch eine Interaktion von Genen und Umwelt. Dabei stellt die individuelle Genetik einen Risikooder Resilienzfaktor dar, der im Zusammenspiel mit den individuellen Umweltbedingungen die Depressionsentwicklung begünstigen oder der Entstehung einer Depression vorbeugen kann. Solchen Theorien fehlte bislang das Bindeglied für das Zusammenspiel zwischen Genetik und Umwelteinflüssen. Ein solches Bindeglied ist die Epigenetik, die sich in den letzten Jahren als wegweisend in der Erforschung biologischer Marker stressbedingter Psychopathologie erwiesen hat. Der am besten erforschte epigenetische Mechanismus ist die DNA-Methylierung. Diese hat sich über viele Studien hinweg als ein möglicher Mechanismus etabliert, der dazu imstande ist, die psychopathogene Wirkung von Stress auf behaviorale, endokrine und molekulare Prozesse zu erklären. Diese Arbeit soll dazu dienen, die Grundlagen der Epigenetik und der DNA-Methylierung zu erläutern, um nachfolgend eine Übersicht über die Studienlage zu stress- und depressionsassoziierten Unterschieden in den Methylierungsmustern der bekanntesten Kandidatengene zu geben.

Summary

Modern etiologic theories of major depression postulate an interaction of genes and environment. Accordingly, depression development might be catalyzed, if the stress an individual is exposed to exceeds a certain threshold. The threshold in turn is determined by an individual’s genes. Until recently, these theories lacked the link between environmental factors and the genome. Epigenetics is bridging this gap and has built a path-breaking field of research concerning the etiology of stress-related disorders. DNA-methylation is the most investigated epigenetic modification able to explain the pathogenic impact of stress on behavioral, endocrine and molecular processes. This article aims to explain the basic concepts of epigenetics as well as DNAmethylation and reviews current studies examining the interactions and interrelations of stressful life events, DNA-methylation and depression in a candidate gene approach.

Schlüsselwörter

Stress - Epigenetik - DNA-Methylierung - Ätiologie der Depression

Keywords

Stress - epigenetics - DNA-methylation - depression development
 

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