Dynamic behavior of cell-free mitochondrial DNA in human saliva
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Mitochondria contain their own genome that can be released in multiple biofluids such as blood and cerebrospinal fluid, as cell-free mitochondrial DNA (cf-mtDNA). In clinical studies, blood cf-mtDNA predicts mortality and higher cf-mtDNA levels are associated with mental and physical stress. However, the dynamics of cf-mtDNA has not been defined, and whether it can be measured non-invasively like other neuroendocrine markers in saliva has not been examined. Here we report cf-mtDNA in human saliva and establish its natural within-person dynamic behavior across multiple weeks. In a small proof-of-principle cohort of healthy adults, we first develop an approach to rapidly quantify salivary cf-mtDNA without DNA isolation, and demonstrate the existence of salivary cf-mtDNA. We then deploy this approach to perform an intensive repeated-measures analysis of two healthy men studied at 4 daily timepoints over 53–60 consecutive days (n = 212–220 observations each) with parallel measures of steroid hormones, self-reported daily mood, and health-related behaviors. Salivary cf-mtDNA exhibited a robust awakening response reaching up to two orders of magnitude 30–45 min after awakening, varied from day-to-day, and moderately correlated with the cortisol awakening response. In exploratory analyses, no consistent association with self-reported daily mood/health-related behaviors were found, although this requires further examination in future studies. Dynamic variation in cf-mtDNA was inversely related with salivary interleukin 6 (IL-6), inconsistent with a pro-inflammatory effect of salivary cf-mtDNA. The highly dynamic behavior of salivary cf-mtDNA opens the door to non-invasive studies examining the relevance of mtDNA signaling in relation to human health.
Details
Original language | English |
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Article number | 105852 |
Journal | Psychoneuroendocrinology |
Volume | 143 |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2022 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 35834882 |
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WOS | 000830860100002 |
Keywords
Research priority areas of TU Dresden
DFG Classification of Subject Areas according to Review Boards
Subject groups, research areas, subject areas according to Destatis
Sustainable Development Goals
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Awakening response, Cell-free mitochondrial DNA, Saliva, Steroid hormones, Cell-Free Nucleic Acids, Humans, Mitochondria/genetics, Adult, DNA, Mitochondrial, Male, Hydrocortisone/analysis, Saliva/chemistry, Cell -free mitochondrial DNA