Depression, perceived stress, and distress during pregnancy and EV-associated miRNA profiles in MADRES

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Helen Bermudez Foley, University of Southern California; Caitlin G. Howe, University of Southern California; Sandrah P. Eckel, University of Southern California; Thomas Chavez, University of Southern California; Lili Gevorkian, University of Southern California; Eileen Granada Reyes, University of Southern California; Bethany Kapanke, University of Southern California; Danilo Martinez, University of Southern California; Shanyan Xue, University of Southern California; Shakira Suglia, Emory University; Theresa M. Bastain, University of Southern California; Carmen Marsit, Emory University; Carrie V. Breton, University of Southern California
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-12-20
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.039
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Affective Disorders
• Volume: 323
• Start Page: 799
• End Page: 808
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIHMD, www.nimhd.nih.gov) grant 5R01MD011698 and P50MD015705. Laboratory efforts were also supported by the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center core facility under grant P30ES007048. CGH is supported by an NIEHS Pathway to Independence Award (R00 ES030400). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
• Keywords: extracellular vesicles; depression; microRNA; pregnancy; perceived stress
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Biology, Genetics; Psychology, Social

Abstract

BACKGROUND MicroRNA (miRNA) circulating in plasma have been proposed as biomarkers for a variety of diseases and stress measures, including depression, stress, and trauma. However, few studies have examined the relationship between stress and miRNA during pregnancy. METHODS In this study, we examined associations between measures of stress and depression during pregnancy with miRNA in early and late pregnancy from the MADRES cohort of primarily low-income Hispanic women based in Los Angeles, California. Extracellular-vesicle-(EV-) associated miRNA were isolated from maternal plasma and quantified using the Nanostring nCounter platform. Correlations for stress-associated miRNA were also calculated for 89 matching cord blood samples. RESULTS Fifty miRNA were nominally associated with depression, perceived stress, and prenatal distress, (raw p<0.05) with 17 miRNA shared between two or more stress measures. Two miRNA (miR-150-5p and miR-148b-3p) remained marginally significant after FDR adjustment (p<0.10). Fifteen PANTHER pathways were enriched for predicted gene targets of the 50 miRNA associated with stress. Clusters of maternal and neonate miRNA expression suggest a link between maternal and child profiles. LIMITATIONS The study evaluated 142 miRNA and was not an exhaustive analysis of all discovered miRNA. Evaluations for stress, depression and trauma were based on self-reported instruments, rather than diagnostic tools. CONCLUSIONS Depression and stress during pregnancy are associated with some circulating EV miRNA. Given that EV miRNA play important roles in maternal-fetal communication, this may have downstream consequences for maternal and child health, and underscore the importance of addressing mental health during pregnancy, especially in health disparities populations.