Suicide epigenetics, a review of recent progress

Background: Suicide results in over 800,000 deaths every year, making it a major public health concern worldwide. It is highly complex, with genetic and environmental influences. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, miRNA, and histone modifications, could explain the complex interplay of environmental risk factors with genetic risk factors in the emergence of suicidal behavior. Methods: Here, we review the literature on suicide epigenetics over the past 10 years. Results: There has been significant progress in the field of suicide epigenetics, with emerging findings in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genes. Limitations: Studying patient subgroups is needed in order to extract more comparable and reproducible epigenetic findings in suicide. Conclusions: It is crucial to consider suicidal patients or suicide victims' distal and proximal past history e.g., early-life adversity and psychiatric disorder in epigenetic studies of suicidality.