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Glucocorticoid-Dependent Epigenetic Regulation of Fkbp5

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Epigenetics and Neuroendocrinology

Part of the book series: Epigenetics and Human Health ((EHH))

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Abstract

Emerging evidence suggests that environmental factors, in addition to genetics, may play a crucial role in the development and progression of psychiatric diseases. In particular, chronic exposure to stress or glucocorticoids (GCs) has been shown to elicit symptoms of depression and mania in humans and animals. One of the key modulators of the stress response is a chaperone protein called Fk506-binding protein 5, or FKBP5, that regulates intracellular sensitivity to glucocorticoids. Consequently, genetic variations and epigenetic alterations in the FKBP5 gene have been linked to depression, bipolar disorder, and PTSD. In animals, chronic exposure to glucocorticoids leads to a persistent loss of Fkbp5 DNA methylation in the brain. As this epigenetic event mirrors glucocorticoid-induced physiological changes in several organ systems and can be detected in the blood, study of epigenetic regulation of Fkbp5 may help us understand the underlying mechanism of GC-related psychiatric disorders and the principles that govern the use of peripheral tissues to assess GC-related events occurring in the brain.

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  1. The Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Richard S. Lee

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Correspondence to Richard S. Lee .

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  1. Translational Res. in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Bayern, Germany

    Dietmar Spengler

  2. Translational Res. in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Bayern, Germany

    Elisabeth Binder

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Lee, R.S. (2016). Glucocorticoid-Dependent Epigenetic Regulation of Fkbp5 . In: Spengler, D., Binder, E. (eds) Epigenetics and Neuroendocrinology. Epigenetics and Human Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24493-8_4

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