Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40281224›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2025

Epigenetic markers of disease risk and psychotherapy response in anxiety disorders - a longitudinal analysis of the DNA methylome.

Katharina Domschke, Miriam A Schiele, Óscar Crespo Salvador, Lea Zillich, Jan Lipovsek, Andre Pittig, Ingmar Heinig, Isabelle C Ridderbusch, Benjamin Straube, Jan Richter and 22 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Quo Vadis translational neuroscience?Translational neuroscience · 2026
    Review
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

32 authors.

Katharina Domschke *Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. katharina.domschke@uniklinik-freiburg.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2550-9132
Miriam A Schiele *Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Óscar Crespo SalvadorDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Lea ZillichDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Jan LipovsekDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Andre PittigTranslational Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3787-9576
Ingmar HeinigInstitute of Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Isabelle C RidderbuschDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy & Center for Mind Brain and Behavior - CMBB, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Benjamin StraubeDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy & Center for Mind Brain and Behavior - CMBB, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9837-0944
Jan RichterDepartment of Psychology, Experimental Psychopathology, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7127-6990
Maike HollandtDepartment of Psychology, Biological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Jens PlagFaculty of Medicine, Institute for Mental Health and Behavioral Medicine, HMU Health and Medical University Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
Thomas FydrichDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Katja KoelkebeckLVR-University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0469-3997
Heike WeberDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9421-1292
Ulrike LuekenGerman Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Berlin/Potsdam, Berlin, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1564-4012
Udo DannlowskiInstitute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0623-3759
Jürgen MargrafMental Health Research and Treatment Center, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5207-7016
Silvia SchneiderMental Health Research and Treatment Center, Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0698-8411
Elisabeth B BinderDept. Genes and Environment, Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7088-6618
Andreas StröhleDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Winfried RiefDepartment of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy & Center for Mind Brain and Behavior - CMBB, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Tilo KircherDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2514-2625
Paul PauliDepartment of Psychology (Biological Psychology Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0692-6720
Alfons HammDepartment of Psychology, Biological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Volker AroltInstitute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2445-9778
Jürgen HoyerInstitute of Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Hans-Ulrich WittchenInstitute of Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6311-7711
Angelika Erhardt-LehmannDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Anna KöttgenInstitute of Genetic Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4671-3714
Pascal SchlosserInstitute of Genetic Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Jürgen DeckertDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation are hypothesized to play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders and to predict as well as relate to treatment response. An epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) (Illumina MethylationEPIC BeadChip) was performed at baseline (BL), post-treatment (POST) and 6-month follow-up (FU) in the so far largest longitudinal sample of patients with anxiety disorders (N = 415) treated with exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and in 315 healthy controls. Independent of comorbidity with depression, anxiety disorders were significantly (p ≤ 6.409E-08) associated with altered DNA methylation at 148 CpGs partly mapping to genes previously implicated in processes related to anxiety, brain disorders, learning or plasticity (e.g., GABBR2, GABRD, GAST, IL12RB2, LINC00293, LOC101928626, MFGE8, NOTCH4, PTPRN2, RIMBP2, SPTBN1) or in a recent cross-anxiety disorders EWAS (TAOK1) after pre-processing and quality control (N = 378 vs. N = 295). Furthermore, BL DNA methylation at seven and three CpGs, respectively, was suggestively (p < 1E-5) associated with treatment response at POST (ABCA7, ADRA2C, LTBR, RPSAP52, SH3RF3, SLC47A2, ZNF251) and FU (ADGRD1, PRSS58, USP47). Finally, suggestive evidence for dynamic epigenome-wide DNA methylation changes along with CBT response emerged at four CpGs from BL to FU (ADIPOR2, EIF3B, OCA2, TMCC1). The identification of epigenetic biomarkers may eventually aid in developing environment-based preventive strategies aimed at increasing resilience by providing deeper molecular insights into the mechanisms underlying anxiety disorders. Defining epigenetic signatures as predictors or key mechanisms in exposure-based interventions could pave the way for more targeted and personalized treatments for anxiety disorders.

Indexed as

Anxiety DisordersDNA MethylationAdultCognitive Behavioral TherapyCpG IslandsEpigenesis, GeneticEpigenomeFemaleGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedPsychotherapyTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID40281224
PMCPMC12436192

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.