Lunch Lecture - Katharina Domschke

The Epigenetics of Fear

Genetic and environmental factors have for the longest time been thought to constitute two separate risk factors of anxiety disorders. Recently, however, temporally dynamic epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation have been suggested as an important missing link between the genetic and the environmental level. Exemplarily, the role of DNA methylation of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene in the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders as well as in the prediction and mediation of treatment response will be discussed. Epigenetic mechanisms could serve as valuable markers for future personalized, i.e. more precise and thus more effective treatment approaches in anxiety disorders.