Henning Værøy, Céline Duparc, Sergueï O. Fetissov, Hervé Lefebvre, Csaba Adori, Elin Western, Jonathan Breton, Nicolas Lucas, Pierre Déchelotte, Romain Legrand, Jean-Claude do Rego, Estelle Louiset, Stein Andersson, Tomas Hökfelt, Caroline Cottard, Department of Psychiatric Research, Akershus University Hospital, N-1478 Nordbyhagen, Norway, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Neurology Division, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Nutrition, inflammation et dysfonctionnement de l'axe intestin-cerveau (ADEN), Université de Rouen Normandie (UNIROUEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Institute for Research and Innovation in Biomedicine (IRIB), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UNIROUEN - UFR Santé (UNIROUEN UFR Santé), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU), TargEDys Rouen, Service d'Hépato-Gastroentérologie [CHU Rouen], Hôpital Charles Nicolle [Rouen]-CHU Rouen, Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Université de Rouen Normandie (UNIROUEN), Normandie Université (NU), Service Commun d'Analyse Comportementale (SCAC), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Rouen Normandie (UNIROUEN), Différenciation et communication neuronale et neuroendocrine (DC2N), Service de nutrition [CHU Rouen], CHU Rouen, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, 0372 Oslo, Norway, Institute of Psychology, University of Oslo, 0315 Oslo, Norway, and Karolinska Institutet [Stockholm]
Significance The number of inmates imprisoned for violent aggression is increasing, as are the penitentiaries, but still our understanding of mechanisms underlying criminality is limited. Our analysis of violent aggressor inmates reveals unique properties of IgG reactive with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). We show that these IgGs can regulate ACTH-induced cortisol secretion in the adrenal gland, and they exhibit a clear-cut difference in ACTH epitope binding in violent aggressors vs. controls. Additionally, IgG from a subset of aggressive subjects selectively bind to hypothalamic vasopressin neurons. Thus, using several in vitro and in vivo approaches, the study reveals a molecular mechanism involved in the variability of stress response relevant to the neurobiology of aggression and possibly other stress-related conditions., Violent aggression in humans may involve a modified response to stress, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here we show that naturally present autoantibodies reactive to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) exhibit distinct epitope-binding profiles to ACTH peptide in subjects with a history of violent aggression compared with controls. Namely, while nonaggressive male controls displayed a preferential IgG binding to the ACTH central part (amino acids 11–24), subjects who had committed violent acts of aggression had IgG with increased affinity to ACTH, preferentially binding to its N terminus (amino acids 1–13). Purified IgGs from approximately half of the examined sera were able to block ACTH-induced cortisol secretion of human adrenal cells in vitro, irrespective of the source of sample (from a control subject or a violent aggressor). Nevertheless, in the resident–intruder test in mice, i.p. injection of residents with ACTH and IgG from aggressive subjects, but not from control subjects, shortened latency for the first attack against intruders. Immunohistochemical screening of violent aggressors’ sera on rat brain and pituitary sections did not show IgG binding to ACTH-producing cells, but 4 of 16 sera revealed selective binding to a nonidentified antigen in vasopressinergic neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei. Thus, the data show that ACTH-reactive plasmatic IgGs exhibit differential epitope preference in control and violently aggressive subjects. These IgGs can modulate ACTH-induced cortisol secretion and, hence, are involved in the regulation of the stress response. However, the possible role of ACTH-reactive autoantibodies in aggressive behavior needs further investigation.