Social Stress Epigenetics and Cardio-Metabolic Health Among Latinos

拉丁美洲人是美国最大的少数民族，高血压患病率很高， 糖尿病和肥胖症，并且在童年和童年时期经历更高的贫困率和社会压力 与其他种族/族裔群体相比。有大量证据表明， 社会压力因素影响心脏代谢健康的发展。然而，在很大程度上， 这些应激源影响生物过程，特别是在细胞水平上。一种新的方法来评估 社会压力源与心脏代谢健康相关性的可能机制 DNA甲基化（DNA methylation，DNAm）。最近一些小型的横断面研究 他们发现，压力经历可能会改变DNAm，从而提供了一种潜在的机制， 社会压力可能会让人感到不安。大多数现有的拉丁美洲人健康研究都是具体的 墨西哥裔的拉丁裔拉丁美洲人不是一个同质的群体，虽然一些拉丁美洲人在更大的 某些慢性疾病的风险，其他拉丁裔群体可能在某些条件下的风险较低。检查 哪些因素可能会给一些拉丁裔族群带来风险或保护其他拉丁裔族群至关重要 制定干预措施并为资源分配决策提供信息。我们建议研究 社会和经济压力之间的关联，在整个生命过程中与DNAm有关，以及 甲基化的变化率和心脏代谢健康的变化，使用来自 西班牙裔社区健康研究（HCHS/SOL）。HCHS/SOL研究是一项纵向研究， 在美国进行的对美国拉丁美洲人的研究，代表了不同的原籍国。我们建议使用 现有的数据来自分层随机抽样的500名男性和500名女性，他们完成了一个广泛的集 在HCHS/SOL社会文化辅助研究中的社会经济和压力措施， 在两个不同的时间点采集血液样本，间隔六年。现有的血液样本将 测定全基因组DNAm和DNAm年龄。心脏代谢健康标志物（肥胖、糖尿病、 高血压和脂质）也在两个时间点进行了评估。现有数据还包括重复 评估社会和经济压力和社会文化因素（即，出生论，家族论 文化适应、社会支持）。具体来说，我们将研究1）社会和经济压力是否在 儿童期和成年期与DNA年龄和全基因组甲基化的变化有关， 6-2）社会文化因素是否会改变压力源和变化之间的关联， DNAm和3）DNAm是否与6年期间心脏代谢健康的变化相关。 在这个项目完成后，我们的研究结果将促进对社会和经济如何发展的理解。 压力源塑造表观遗传途径，哪些因素可能加剧或改善这些途径， 表观遗传变化是否会影响心脏代谢健康变化。

Latinos, the largest ethnic minority group in the United States, have a high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and obesity and also experience higher rates of poverty and social stressors in both childhood and adulthood compared to other racial/ethnic groups. There is extensive evidence that economic and social stressors shape the development of cardiometabolic health. However, it is largely unknown how these stressors affect biological processes, particularly at the cellular level. One novel method to evaluate possible mechanisms underlying the associations between social stressors and cardiometabolic health across the life course is DNA methylation (DNAm). Recently a handful of small cross-sectional studies have found that stressful experiences may alter DNAm, thus providing a potential mechanism by which social stress may get under the skin. Most of the existing health research among Latinos has been specific to Latinos of Mexican origin. Latinos are not a homogenous group and while some Latinos are at greater risk of certain chronic conditions, other Latino groups may be at lower risk for certain conditions. Examining what factors may confer risk to some Latino ethnic groups or protect other Latino ethnic groups is crucial for developing interventions and informing decisions about resource allocation. We propose to examine the association between social and economic stressors, across the life course in relation to DNAm, as well as the rate of change of methylation and changes in cardiometabolic health, using existing data from the Hispanic Community Health Study /Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). The HCHS/SOL study is a longitudinal study of US Latinos, representing varied countries of origin, conducted in the US. We propose to use existing data from a stratified random sample of 500 men and 500 women, who completed an extensive set of socio-economic and stress measures in the HCHS/SOL Sociocultural Ancillary study and who provided blood samples at two different time points six years apart in adulthood. Existing blood samples will be assayed for genome-wide DNAm and DNAm age. Cardiometabolic health markers (obesity, diabetes, hypertension and lipids) have also been assessed at two time points. Existing data also includes repeated assessments of social and economic stressors and socio-cultural factors (i.e., nativity, familism, acculturation, social support). Specifically, we will examine 1) whether social and economic stressors in childhood and adulthood are associated with changes in DNAm age and genome-wide methylation over a 6-year period; 2) whether sociocultural factors modify the association between stressors and changes in DNAm and 3) whether DNAm is associated with changes in cardiometabolic health over a 6-year period. Upon completion of this project, our findings will advance understanding of how social and economic stressors shape epigenetic pathways, what factors may exacerbate or ameliorate these pathways and whether epigenetic changes over time influence cardiometabolic health changes.