Discriminating childhood traumatic experiences by molecular profiles: the case of neglect and sexual abuse|Discriminación de experiencias traumáticas infantiles mediante perfiles moleculares: el caso del abandono y el abuso sexual

Background: Child maltreatment (CM) covers various forms of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and neglect. Although the scientific literature has extensively documented that exposure to sexual abuse and/or neglect during childhood can cause long-term harm to an individual's overall well-being, the psycho-biological impact of these specific forms of CM requires further exploration. This pilot study tested the hypothesis that experiencing childhood neglect and sexual abuse are associated with psychological alterations as well as biological alterations, namely blood gene expression changes.Methods: This study encompasses a group of volunteer university students, who completed a battery of questionnaires to evaluate the presence of neglect and sexual abuse experience during childhood (CTQ-SF) and psychological distress (SCL-90-R; BDI-II). Both subsets were compared with control groups. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from all groups to extract RNA and perform genome wide expression analyses.Results: Neglected and sexually abused individuals showed evidence of biological alterations. Through a genome wide transcriptomic analysis, combined with multivariate nomogram analysis, we identified two groups of 5 genes, the changes in expression of each group identified a subject who experienced either neglect or sexual abuse, with a probability of 95%. Among the first group of genes, the expression of ARMC1 correlated significantly with depressive scores in neglected individuals. Among the second group of genes, the expression of ABTB1 correlated significantly with general psychological distress in sexually abused individuals.Conclusion: These results support that childhood neglect and sexual abuse are associated with gene expression changes and psychological outcomes, underscoring the importance of refining the diagnostic process with more objective screening and assessment tools.Antecedentes: El maltrato infantil (MI) abarca diversas formas de abuso f & iacute;sico, emocional, sexual y de negligencia. Aunque la literatura cient & iacute;fica ha documentado ampliamente que la exposici & oacute;n al abuso sexual y/o al abandono durante la infancia puede causar da & ntilde;os a largo plazo en el bienestar general del individuo, el impacto psicobiol & oacute;gico de estas formas espec & iacute;ficas de MI requiere una mayor exploraci & oacute;n. Este estudio piloto evalu & oacute; la hip & oacute;tesis de que experimentar abandono y abuso sexual en la infancia se asocia con alteraciones tanto psicol & oacute;gicas como biol & oacute;gicas, en particular, cambios en la expresi & oacute;n g & eacute;nica en sangre.M & eacute;todos: Este estudio incluy & oacute; un grupo de estudiantes universitarios voluntarios, quienes completaron una bater & iacute;a de cuestionarios para evaluar la presencia de experiencias de abandono y abuso sexual durante la infancia (CTQ-SF), as & iacute; como malestar psicol & oacute;gico (SCL-90-R; BDI-II). Ambos subgrupos fueron comparados con grupos control. Se recolectaron c & eacute;lulas mononucleares de sangre perif & eacute;rica de todos los grupos para extraer ARN y realizar an & aacute;lisis de expresi & oacute;n g & eacute;nica a escala gen & oacute;mica.Resultados: Los individuos que reportaron haber sido abandonados o abusados sexualmente mostraron evidencia de alteraciones biol & oacute;gicas. A trav & eacute;s de un an & aacute;lisis transcript & oacute;mico gen & oacute;mico integral, combinado con un an & aacute;lisis multivariado mediante nomogramas, se identificaron dos grupos de 5 genes cuyas modificaciones en la expresi & oacute;n permitieron identificar a un sujeto con antecedentes de abandono o abuso sexual con un 95% de probabilidad. En el primer grupo de genes, la expresi & oacute;n de ARMC1 se correlacion & oacute; significativamente con los puntajes de depresi & oacute;n en individuos que hab & iacute;an sufrido abandono. En el segundo grupo, la expresi & oacute;n de ABTB1 se correlacion & oacute; significativamente con el malestar psicol & oacute;gico general en individuos que hab & iacute;an sufrido abuso sexual.Conclusi & oacute;n: Estos resultados respaldan la asociaci & oacute;n entre el abandono y el abuso sexual infantil con cambios en la expresi & oacute;n g & eacute;nica y consecuencias psicol & oacute;gicas, subrayando la importancia de perfeccionar el proceso diagn & oacute;stico mediante herramientas de evaluaci & oacute;n y detecci & oacute;n m & aacute;s objetivas.