# Epigenomic Predictors of PTSD and Traumatic Stress in an African American Cohort

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA · 2022 · $415,866

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating stress-related mental disorder that disproportionately
impacts African Americans (AAs). Our earlier work identified key social adversity factors, including loneliness,
perceived discrimination, cumulative trauma, emotional maltreatment and financial difficulties that, in combination
with DNA methylation in glucocorticoid receptor regulatory network genes, prospectively predicted PTSD
symptom severity. While studies examining the risk of PTSD among white and AA populations have shown that
AAs are at a higher risk of PTSD following traumatic exposure, there are few studies that have specifically
examined the socioenvironmental factors that lead to differential risk within AA populations. Within-population
studies have the potential to uncover exposures that ultimately lead to race/ethnic disparities in PTSD risk.
Indeed, structural, psychosocial and environmental mechanisms, such as living in unsafe environments and
exposure to discrimination, may contribute to differential PTSD risk in AAs. Our prior research confirms these
findings. What remains unknown, however, are: (i) the potential buffering effects of positive social exposures,
such as social support and cohesion, which have been shown to play an important role in mitigating risk of PTSD;
and (ii) the extent to which peripheral epigenetic measures are relevant to the target organ of PTSD—the brain.
Advances in the science of linking peripheral epigenomic variation to central nervous system (CNS) epigenomic
variation (herein called brain-related epigenomic variation) is urgently needed in order to gain deeper mechanistic
insight into PTSD-related health disparities among AAs affected by this mental health condition. Therefore, the
overall goal of this renewal application is to provide mechanistic insight into how social context, both positive and
negative, affects brain-related epigenomic variation to impact risk of PTSD and traumatic stress in a prospective,
community-based cohort of AAs. To achieve this goal, we will leverage publicly available, multi-tissue datasets to
identify epigenomic markers that are highly correlated in brain and blood, and focus our proposed analyses on
these correlated measures using existing and newly collected epigenomic and gene expression data from the
Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS) cohort. The genomic data will be paired with DNHS survey data,
which includes annual measures of social adversity, psychopathology, and social support and cohesion. We will
focus analyses on social adversities previously implicated in our earlier work (loneliness, perceived
discrimination, cumulative trauma, financial difficulties, emotional mistreatment) and positive social exposures
previously implicated in PTSD (social support and neighborhood social cohesion). Results from this study will
provide a deeper characterization of how social exposures, both positive and negative, influence brain-related
...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10490843
- **Project number:** 5R01MD011728-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** Allison E Aiello
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $415,866
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-16 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10490843

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10490843, Epigenomic Predictors of PTSD and Traumatic Stress in an African American Cohort (5R01MD011728-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10490843. Licensed CC0.

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