3-175 - Novel Metabolic and Immune Biomarkers of Toxic Stress: New Directions and Considerations for Clinical Translatability

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

There is a critical need to delineate origins of adult physical and mental health conditions on the rise, including cardiometabolic syndromes and mood disorders. Early adversity, or “toxic stress,” is a potent risk factor for health degradation. New discoveries in basic and clinical science have identified that metabolic and immune systems link toxic stress to poor health throughout the lifespan.

Not all children exposed to toxic stress exhibit dysregulated metabolic-immune functioning or health problems. Metabolic-immune biomarkers may advance early identification of children at the highest risk. This symposium explores novel biomarkers of toxic stress from three interconnected domains of metabolic-immune functioning: mitochondria, oxidative stress, and inflammation.

The first paper examines an index of mitochondrial dysfunction in 256 preschoolers with maltreatment histories. This is the first study to demonstrate that mitochondrial functioning is altered following maltreatment. Associations between mitochondrial functioning and child behavior problems were observed. Next, results from a study of oxidative stress in 50 high-risk adolescent females show that early adversity is correlated to elevated oxidative stress. Oxidative stress was also robustly associated with internalizing symptomatology. The final paper examines associations between maltreatment exposure and systemic inflammation in 155 school-aged children. Maltreatment exposure was associated with systemic inflammation in girls, after controlling for race, body mass index, and age.

We will discuss the application of findings to enhance identification of high-risk children in clinical settings. We will review barriers to integrating biomarkers into practice and strategies to translate findings successfully to improve the well-being of the most vulnerable children.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Chair

• Sarah Rachel Horn, University of Oregon

Discussant

• Philip Fisher, University of Oregon

Individual Presentations

• Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Preschoolers Exposed to Early Adversity - Presenting Author: Stephanie H. Parade, Bradley Research Center/Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: Kathryn K Ridout, Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: Hung-Teh Kao, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; Non-Presenting Author: Stevie Magnan, Mood Disorders Research Program and Laboratory for Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, Butler Hospital, Providence, RI, USA; Non-Presenting Author: Ronald Seifer, Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: Barbara Porton, Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: Lawrence H. Price, Brown University; Butler Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: Audrey R. Tyrka, Brown University/Butler Hospital

• Oxidative Stress and Early Life Adversity: A Pilot Study in High-Risk Adolescent Females - Presenting Author: Sarah Rachel Horn, University of Oregon; Non-Presenting Author: Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon; Non-Presenting Author: Pat R. Levitt, University of Southern California; Non-Presenting Author: Philip Fisher, University of Oregon

• The Impact of Maltreatment on Systemic Inflammation in Childhood - Presenting Author: Katherine B Ehrlich, University of Georgia; Non-Presenting Author: Greg Miller, Northwestern University; Non-Presenting Author: Fred Rogosch, University of Rochester; Non-Presenting Author: Dante Cicchetti, University of Minnesota