Child sexual offenders show prenatal and epigenetic alterations of the androgen system.,Translational Psychiatry

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Child sexual offenders show prenatal and epigenetic alterations of the androgen system.
Translational Psychiatry ( IF 5.8 ) Pub Date : 2019-01-18 , DOI: 10.1038/s41398-018-0326-0
Tillmann H C Kruger ₁ , Christopher Sinke ₁ , Jonas Kneer ₁ , Gilian Tenbergen ₁ , Abdul Qayyum Khan ₁ , Alexandra Burkert ₁ , Linda Müller-Engling ₁ , Harald Engler ₂ , Hannah Gerwinn ₃ , Nicole von Wurmb-Schwark ₄ , Alexander Pohl ₃ , Simone Weiß ₅ , Till Amelung ₆ , Sebastian Mohnke ₇ , Claudia Massau ₈ , Christian Kärgel ₈ , Martin Walter _{9,

10} , Kolja Schiltz ₁₁ , Klaus M Beier ₆ , Jorge Ponseti ₃ , Boris Schiffer ₈ , Henrik Walter ₇ , Kirsten Jahn ₁ , Helge Frieling ₁

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Institute of Sexual Medicine and Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
Forensische Genetik und Rechtsmedizin, am Institut für Hämatopathologie Hamburg GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.
Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany.
Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
Division of Forensic Psychiatry, Deptartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr University Bochum, LWL University Hospital, Bochum, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany.

Child sexual offending (CSO) places a serious burden on society and medicine and pedophilia (P) is considered a major risk factor for CSO. The androgen system is closely linked to sexual development and behavior. This study assessed markers of prenatal brain androgenization, genetic parameters of androgen receptor function, epigenetic regulation, and peripheral hormones in a 2 × 2 factorial design comprising the factors Offense (yes/no) and Pedophilia (yes/no) in analyzing blood samples from 194 subjects (57 P+CSO, 45 P-CSO, 20 CSO-P, and 72 controls) matched for age and intelligence. Subjects also received a comprehensive clinical screening. Independent of their sexual preference, child sexual offenders showed signs of elevated prenatal androgen exposure compared with non-offending pedophiles and controls. The methylation status of the androgen receptor gene was also higher in child sexual offenders, indicating lower functionality of the testosterone system, accompanied by lower peripheral testosterone levels. In addition, there was an interaction effect on methylation levels between offense status and androgen receptor functionality. Notably, markers of prenatal androgenization and the methylation status of the androgen receptor gene were correlated with the total number of sexual offenses committed. This study demonstrates alterations of the androgen system on a prenatal, epigenetic, and endocrine level. None of the major findings was specific for pedophilia, but they were for CSO. The findings support theories of testosterone-linked abnormalities in early brain development in delinquent behavior and suggest possible interactions of testosterone receptor gene methylation and plasma testosterone with environmental factors.

中文翻译：

儿童性犯罪者表现出雄激素系统的产前和表观遗传学改变。

儿童性犯罪（CSO）给社会和医学带来了沉重负担，而恋童癖（P）被认为是CSO的主要危险因素。雄激素系统与性发育和行为密切相关。这项研究在2×2因子设计中评估了产前大脑雄激素化，雄激素受体功能的遗传参数，表观遗传调控和周围激素的标记物，其中包括分析血液样本中的冒犯（是/否）和恋童癖（是/否）因素。匹配年龄和智力的194名受试者（57名P + CSO，45名P-CSO，20名CSO-P和72名对照）。受试者还接受了全面的临床筛查。与性侵犯无关，与非犯罪性恋童癖者和对照组相比，儿童性犯罪者表现出升高的产前雄激素暴露迹象。儿童性罪犯中雄激素受体基因的甲基化状态也较高，表明睾丸激素系统的功能较低，同时外周睾丸激素水平较低。另外，在进攻状态和雄激素受体功能性之间对甲基化水平有相互作用的影响。值得注意的是，产前雄激素化的标记和雄激素受体基因的甲基化状态与所犯下的性犯罪总数有关。这项研究证明了在出生前，表观遗传和内分泌水平上雄激素系统的改变。没有一项主要发现是针对恋童癖的，而是针对公民社会组织的。

更新日期：2019-01-26

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