Discriminating childhood traumatic experiences by molecular profiles: the case of neglect and sexual abuse

Background: Child maltreatment (CM) covers various forms of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and neglect. Although the scientific literature has extensively documented that exposure to sexual abuse and/or neglect during childhood can cause long-term harm to an individual's overall well-being, the psycho-biological impact of these specific forms of CM requires further exploration. This pilot study tested the hypothesis that experiencing childhood neglect and sexual abuse are associated with psychological alterations as well as biological alterations, namely blood gene expression changes.Methods: This study encompasses a group of volunteer university students, who completed a battery of questionnaires to evaluate the presence of neglect and sexual abuse experience during childhood (CTQ-SF) and psychological distress (SCL-90-R; BDI-II). Both subsets were compared with control groups. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from all groups to extract RNA and perform genome wide expression analyses.Results: Neglected and sexually abused individuals showed evidence of biological alterations. Through a genome wide transcriptomic analysis, combined with multivariate nomogram analysis, we identified two groups of 5 genes, the changes in expression of each group identified a subject who experienced either neglect or sexual abuse, with a probability of 95%. Among the first group of genes, the expression of ARMC1 correlated significantly with depressive scores in neglected individuals. Among the second group of genes, the expression of ABTB1 correlated significantly with general psychological distress in sexually abused individuals.Conclusion: These results support that childhood neglect and sexual abuse are associated with gene expression changes and psychological outcomes, underscoring the importance of refining the diagnostic process with more objective screening and assessment tools.