This study evaluated whether children with higher adverse childhood experiences (ACE) scores had alterations in immune cell gene expression profiles. RNA sequencing was conducted on dried blood spot samples from 37 generally healthy English-speaking children (age 5–11) who were recruited from well-child visits at a university-affiliated pediatric practice. The Whole Child Assessment was used to assess ACE exposure. Primary analyses examined an a priori-specified composite of 19 pro-inflammatory gene transcripts. Secondary analyses examined a 34-gene composite assessing Type I interferon response, and used Transcript Origin Analyses to identify cellular mechanisms. After controlling for age, body mass index percentile, sex, race/ethnicity, current insurance status, and household smoking exposure, pro-inflammatory gene expression was elevated by 0.094 log2 RNA expression units with each Child-ACE total score point (p = .019). Type I interferon gene expression was similarly upregulated (0.103; p = .008). Transcript origin analyses implicated CD8+ T cell as the primary sources of gene transcripts upregulated, and nonclassical (CD16+) monocytes as sources of downregulated transcripts. These preliminary analyses suggest that parent-reported ACE exposures are associated with increased expression of both inflammatory and interferon gene transcripts in children's circulating blood cells.

本研究评估了不良童年经历 (ACE) 评分较高的儿童是否在免疫细胞基因表达谱方面发生了变化。对来自大学附属儿科诊所的健康儿童访问的 37 名一般健康的讲英语的儿童（5-11 岁）的干血斑样本进行 RNA 测序。整个儿童评估用于评估 ACE 暴露。初步分析检查了 19 个促炎基因转录物的先验指定复合物。二次分析检查了评估 I 型干扰素反应的 34 基因复合物，并使用转录起源分析来识别细胞机制。在控制年龄、体重指数百分位、性别、种族/民族、当前保险状况和家庭吸烟暴露后，促炎基因表达升高了 0。p = .019）。I 型干扰素基因表达同样上调（0.103；p = .008）。转录本起源分析表明 CD8+ T 细胞是上调基因转录本的主要来源，而非经典 (CD16+) 单核细胞是下调转录本的主要来源。这些初步分析表明，父母报告的 ACE 暴露与儿童循环血细胞中炎症和干扰素基因转录物的表达增加有关。