# Childhood Mass Trauma Exposure, Inflammatory Programming, and Psychopathology in Young Adulthood

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC · 2020 · $788,215

## Abstract

A growing body of literature indicates that exposure to childhood adversities and trauma (CATs)
significantly increases the risk of lifelong physical morbidity, including: pulmonary, cardiovascular, and
gastrointestinal conditions, metabolic syndrome, some cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric disorders, and,
especially, physical-psychiatric comorbidities. Moreover, CATs exposures are quite common and are therefore
potentially associated with a significant proportion of adult comorbidities and mortality. Fortunately, there is
emerging literature that points to reprogramming of the immune/inflammatory system as a possible link between
CATs and negative physical and/or psychiatric sequelae. While the biological pathways are not yet well
understood, a better characterization of these relationships could point to interventions to aid in early
identification, prevention and treatment of those exposed to CATs. The necessary research has been hampered
by the difficulty of finding and assessing cohorts that are sufficiently large, associated with well-defined
exposures and assessed longitudinally to ascertain objective evidence of long-term sequelae. To address these
challenges, this proposal draws on a longitudinal cohort, the Stress & Well-Being (S&W) Study and its follow up
study, S&W2. This is the largest (N= 1,500), most comprehensive physical and mental health study of children
exposed to a shared trauma, namely, 9/11. The S&W2 funding structure allowed for collecting and bio-banking
of blood but necessitated a separate proposal for its analysis, thus making the proposed Childhood Mass
Trauma Exposure, Inflammatory Programming, and Psychopathology in Young Adulthood (also called
Inflammation and Childhood Adversity and Trauma [I-CATs]) Study very cost-effective.
 Drawing on data from the two waves of S&W and S&W2, notably bio-banked blood from S&W2, this
proposal is designed to characterize the relationship between exposure to CATs and subsequent profiles of
inflammatory/immune signatures, and the relationship of those signatures to long-term comorbidities. Our
diverse immune profiling panel includes 60 cytokines, chemokines and growth factors selected as being broadly
representative of the proinflammatory, anti-inflammatory/counter-regulatory, Th17 and T regulatory (Treg) arms
of the immune system, as well as neuroimmune molecules, such as BDNF and NGF. In summary, the I-CATs
Study will: 1) identify the relationship of a shared mass trauma exposure to inflammatory signatures; 2)
characterize the role (possibly a mediating role) that those immune/inflammatory signatures have on physical,
psychiatric and comorbid outcomes in young adults; and, 3) ultimately, identify approaches from the
immune/inflammatory domain to potentially bear on early prevention and treatment of those exposed to CATs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9972659
- **Project number:** 1R01HL152385-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
- **Principal Investigator:** Lawrence Amsel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $788,215
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9972659

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9972659, Childhood Mass Trauma Exposure, Inflammatory Programming, and Psychopathology in Young Adulthood (1R01HL152385-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9972659. Licensed CC0.

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