About this Research Topic
According to WHO, the hallmarks of mental disorders are clinically significant disturbances in an individual’s cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior with distress or impairment in important areas of functioning. Anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia are some examples of these pathologies which cause one of the largest burdens on society and represent a big public health concern. These conditions are typically characterized by a multifactorial etiology with a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Genome-wide associations studies (GWASs) reported the association of many mental disorders to different genetic variants, responsible however for a relatively small percentage of familial clustering. This determines the so-called “missing heritability” possibly due to the presence of rare and structural variants or the dominance effects and epistatis, but also to the influence of environmental factors, such as stressful events or lifestyle factors, are typically involved.
The goal of this Research Topic is to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying gene-environment interactions, namely the effect of environmental factors on genetic risk factors, which may be the key to elucidating the missing heritability of mental disorders. In this context, epigenetic mechanisms seem to act like “the mediators” of this interplay. The aim of the present Research Topic, therefore, is to provide evidence on the gene-environment interplay to better understand the etiology of mental disorders, identifying the pathways through which the environmental exposures may act. This approach may be very useful to develop in the future “personalized medicine” with interventions in specific environments based on the specific genetic architecture of every single person. Thus, the final goal of the present Research Topic is to give a complete picture of mental disorders and suggest possible future prevention and/or intervention measures to reduce their social burden and ensure better public health.
The focus of the manuscripts submitted should be on preclinical and clinical studies that investigate gene-environment interactions in the context of mental disorders elucidating the molecular architecture underlying their interplay. We call for original papers related, but not limited, to the following subtopics:
• Epigenetic modulation of molecular markers specifically associated with mental disorders, using in vitro and/or in vivo models as well as clinical samples.
• Identification of new possible molecular markers associated with mental disorders and investigation of their possible modulation.
• Analysis of early and sensitive stages of development in which perturbation may increase the risk of mental disorders later in life, focusing on specific molecular markers possibly associated with these steps and planning a possible early environmental intervention.
• Analysis of environmental interventions to reduce or prevent molecular effects underlying mental disorders.
The goal of this Research Topic is to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying gene-environment interactions, namely the effect of environmental factors on genetic risk factors, which may be the key to elucidating the missing heritability of mental disorders. In this context, epigenetic mechanisms seem to act like “the mediators” of this interplay. The aim of the present Research Topic, therefore, is to provide evidence on the gene-environment interplay to better understand the etiology of mental disorders, identifying the pathways through which the environmental exposures may act. This approach may be very useful to develop in the future “personalized medicine” with interventions in specific environments based on the specific genetic architecture of every single person. Thus, the final goal of the present Research Topic is to give a complete picture of mental disorders and suggest possible future prevention and/or intervention measures to reduce their social burden and ensure better public health.
The focus of the manuscripts submitted should be on preclinical and clinical studies that investigate gene-environment interactions in the context of mental disorders elucidating the molecular architecture underlying their interplay. We call for original papers related, but not limited, to the following subtopics:
• Epigenetic modulation of molecular markers specifically associated with mental disorders, using in vitro and/or in vivo models as well as clinical samples.
• Identification of new possible molecular markers associated with mental disorders and investigation of their possible modulation.
• Analysis of early and sensitive stages of development in which perturbation may increase the risk of mental disorders later in life, focusing on specific molecular markers possibly associated with these steps and planning a possible early environmental intervention.
• Analysis of environmental interventions to reduce or prevent molecular effects underlying mental disorders.
Keywords: Molecular markers, Gene expression, epigenetic, environment, mental disorders
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
