Assessing the feasibility of using salivary microRNAs as biomarkers to distinguish between chronic stress and childhood trauma in African American young women in an exploratory pilot study

Bibliographic Data

ID15528854
AuthorsErica Holliday (0000-0002-4637-3625, Kennesaw State University, corresponding author), Anisah Bagasra (0000-0002-7057-5278, Kennesaw State University), Omar Bagasra (Claflin University), Pratima Pandey (0000-0002-2951-2873, Claflin University)
Year2025
Volume16
Pages1507064-1507064
Publication date2025-02-14
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640
PublisherFrontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1507064
PMID40027601
OpenAlexW4407588587
LanguageEN
References cited57

Our analyses shows that miRNA extracted from salivary exosomes can be a reliable biomarker for stress and miR-135a-3p appears to be the most upregulated between LCS and HCS individuals and a potential candidate to corroborate self-reports on self-assessments and predict negative health outcomes. Given that HCS+HA did not show an upregulation of miR-135-3p but had similar expression in the other three miRs compared to HCS group may indicate an adaptive stress response following early life adversity. Further, downregulation in miR-135-3p in individuals with high levels of chronic stress could point to unknown childhood trauma exposure (e.g. closed adoptions, dissociative amnesia, abuse). A major limitation in this study is the small sample size and future directions include determining the predictive validity of these miRNAs in predicting onset of physical and mental health outcomes for early interventions in larger studies

Anxiety · Bioinformatics · Biology · Chronic stress · Gene · microRNA · Psychiatry · Saliva · Stressor · Child Abuse and Trauma · Clinical Psychology · Medicine · Psychology · Resilience and Mental Health · Stress Responses and Cortisol · Genetics · Internal Medicine · Oncology

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