European Journal of Psychotraumatology (Sep 2012)

Dysregulated mitochondria-focused genes in US military service members with PTSD

  • Lei Zhang,
  • Xianzhang Hu,
  • David M. Benedek,
  • Carol S. Fullerton,
  • Robert D. Forsten,
  • James A. Naifeh,
  • Xiaoxia Li,
  • He Li,
  • K. Nikki Benevides,
  • Robert L. Ursano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v3i0.19309
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 0
pp. 1 – 1

Abstract

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Background: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a complex mental disorder with functional and structural changes in the brain that may result from mitochondria-centered responses to harmful stresses. PTSD is an ongoing issue in the military. However, at present, there is no biological tool for PTSD diagnosis. Diagnosis for PTSD is established on the basis of clinical history and mental status examination, using a clinically structured interview based on a symptom checklist or patient self-report. It is often under-diagnosis. The clinical assessment would benefit substantially from a more objective means to identify PTSD patients. Here, we present evidence that there are significant differences of expression profiles of mitochondria-focused gene in the blood between PTSD and non-PTSD control US military service members. Methods: Using a mitochondria-focused gene cDNA array, we examined the expression profiles of 1170 mitochondria-focused genes across samples from subjects with (n=28) or without (n=31) probable PTSD who were active duty US Army Special Operations soldiers deployed to the Iraq and/or Afghanistan war and who were evaluated for probable current PTSD using the PTSD Checklist (PCL). Using the analytical approach of unsupervised pattern recognition with algorithmic basis of clustering, 10 clusters or pathways were revealed from the mitochondria-focused gene microarray data. Results: Significance tests demonstrated different expression levels in 26 genes between PTSD and non-PTSD controls. A relationship analysis found that among the 26 genes, the expression levels of five genes were significantly correlated with the total PCL score in the PTSD subjects. Conclusion: The expression of mitochondria-focused gene fingerprints and dysregulated genes in the blood of PTSD patients warrants a large size study to determine their clinical utility in military population.

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