Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2016 May 14;146-147:60–72. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2016.05.006

Table 6.

Epigenetic modifications associated with anxiety disorders in humans

Sample collection Age Anxiety
diagnosis/symptoms		 Primary findings Findings by
sex		 Reference
Males Females
Blood Adult Hospital Anxiety
Depression Scale -
Anxiety score > 8		 ↑ Global DNA methylation ✓ ✓ (Murphy et al., 2015)
Blood Adult Panic disorder ↓ GAD1 methylation ✓ ✓ (Domschke et al., 2013)
Blood Adult Panic disorder ↓ MAOA methylation ✓ ✓ (Domschke et al., 2012)
Blood Adult Social anxiety disorder ↓ OXTR methylation ✓ ✓ (Ziegler et al., 2015)
Blood Adult Panic disorder ↑ NET methylation ✓ ✓ (Esler et al., 2006; Esler et al., 2008)
Buccal Children (6–
13 years of
age)		 Any anxiety diagnosis ↓ SERT methylation in
nonresponders to CBT		 ✓ ✓ (Roberts et al., 2014)
↑ SERT methylation in
responders to CBT		 ✓ ✓

CBT = Cognitive Behavior Therapy; ✓ = Significant.