INTERpreting epigenetic signatures in STudies of Early Life Adversity (InterStELA)

早期生活中的逆境可能对社会、发展和健康结果产生重大而持久的影响；早期生活逆境的各种标志，如低社会经济地位（SEP）；父母死亡、生病或离婚；与父母分离；父母心理健康或成瘾；亲子关系缺乏温暖和亲情；居住不稳定以及身体、情感和性虐待与较低的受教育程度、收入和经济参与以及不良健康行为和较差的身心健康结果有关。减少或潜在地消除早期逆境的有害影响对于消除不平等至关重要。有大量的证据记录和描述了早期生活逆境的长期后果，但它们发生的途径和机制仍然不确定。为了使早期生活的逆境影响后来的结果，生物系统必须受到影响。表观遗传学是一种潜在的分子机制，将早期生活逆境与后来的结果联系起来。DNA甲基化是一种表观遗传变化。这是一种影响我们基因表达程度的DNA化学变化。DNA甲基化可以对早期生活中的环境因素做出反应，这意味着它可能对研究早期生活中的逆境非常有用。动物模型显示了早期生活压力与甲基化模式改变之间的联系，最近来自人类研究的证据表明，低SEP和滥用与甲基化模式的差异有关。这个项目的目的是建立一个研究早期生活逆境和DNA甲基化之间关系的研究人员网络。将一个由社会和生物学研究人员组成的团队聚集在一起，将使研究人员能够共享数据和专业知识，从而推动该领域的发展并加快进展。研究人员将使用现有的高质量数据，这些数据来自于人们在整个生命过程中被跟踪的研究，以便更好地了解早期生活中的逆境如何影响DNA甲基化的变化，以及是否有其他因素改变这些关系。除了开展这一领域的具体研究项目外，网络成员还将在一系列讲习班上会面，讨论研究结果并规划未来的项目。

Early life adversity can have a significant and lasting effect on social, developmental, and health outcomes; various markers of early life adversity such as low socio-economic position (SEP); parental death, illness or divorce; separation from parents; parental mental health or addiction; lack of warmth and affection of parent-child relationships; residential instability, and physical, emotional and sexual abuse are associated with lower educational attainment, income and economic participation, as well as with adverse health behaviours and poorer mental and physical health outcomes. Reducing or potentially eliminating the harmful effects of early adversity is crucial for combating inequalities. There is a large body of evidence documenting and describing the long-term consequences of early life adversity, but the pathways and mechanisms through which they occur remain uncertain. In order for early life adversity to influence later outcomes, biological systems must be affected. Epigenetics is a potential molecular mechanism linking early life adversity with later outcomes. DNA methylation is one type of epigenetic change. It is a chemical change to our DNA that influences the extent to which our genes are expressed. DNA methylation can respond to environmental factors in early life, which means it may be very useful to study early life adversity. Animal models have shown links between early life stress and altered methylation patterns, and more recently evidence from human studies has shown that low SEP and abuse are associated with differences in methylation patterns. The aim of this project is to create a network of researchers working on the relationship between early life adversity and DNA methylation. Bringing together a team of social and biological researchers will enable the researchers to share data and expertise in order to drive the field forwards and speed up progress. The researchers will use existing high-quality data from studies where people have been followed across the life course in order to better understand how early life adversity affects changes in DNA methylation and whether there are other factors that alter these relationships. In addition to carrying out specific research projects in this area, network members will meet at a series of workshops, in which the results from research will be discussed and future projects will be planned.