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. 2025 Mar;44(3):176-187.
doi: 10.1037/hea0001410. Epub 2025 Jan 2.

How community connection, homophobia, and racism shape gene expression in sexual minority men with and without HIV

Jenna Alley  1 , Jeffrey Gassen  1 , Luis A Parra  2 , Michele D Kipke  3 , Jeremy T Goldbach  4 , Steven W Cole  1 , George M Slavich  1
Affiliations

How community connection, homophobia, and racism shape gene expression in sexual minority men with and without HIV

Jenna Alley et al. Health Psychol. 2025 Mar.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Objective: Although sexual minority men experience substantial discrimination, in addition to increased risk for several serious mental and somatic health problems, the biological mechanisms underlying these effects are unclear. To address this issue, we examined how experiences of social safety (i.e., community connection) and social threat (i.e., discrimination, in the forms of homophobia and racism) were related to conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) gene expression profiles across time, and whether these associations differed across HIV status, in a well-characterized, racially diverse sample of sexual minority men (Mage = 22.61, SD = 1.90).

Method: Experiences of community connection, homophobia, and racism were assessed via self-report, and blood samples were obtained at three timepoints over approximately 2 years. We then used these blood samples to characterize participants' CTRA gene expression, which we quantified using an a priori 53-transcript composite score derived from RNA sequencing data from peripheral blood leukocytes.

Results: As hypothesized, greater community connection was significantly related to decreased CTRA gene expression across time. These effects were similar regardless of HIV status and were robust to statistical adjustment for several potential confounding factors. In contrast, neither homophobia nor racism were related to CTRA gene expression.

Conclusion: These results suggest that community connection may be a protective factor that reduces biological processes known to negatively impact health. Consequently, interventions and policies aimed at reducing health disparities in marginalized populations may benefit from increasing community connection and inclusion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Objetivo:: Aunque los hombres de minorías sexuales experimentan una discriminación sustancial, además de un mayor riesgo de varios problemas de salud mental y somáticos graves, los mecanismos biológicos subyacentes a estos efectos no están claros. Para abordar este tema, examinamos cómo las experiencias de seguridad social (es decir, conexión comunitaria) y amenaza social (es decir, discriminación, en forma de homofobia y racismo) se relacionaron con los perfiles de expresión genética de la Respuesta Transcripcional Conservada a la Adversidad (CTRA, por sus siglas en inglés) a lo largo del tiempo, y si estas asociaciones diferían según el estado del VIH, en una muestra racialmente diversa de hombres de minorías sexuales bien caracterizada (Medad = 22.61, SDedad = 1.90).

Método:: Las experiencias de conexión comunitaria, homofobia y racismo se evaluaron mediante autoinforme y se obtuvieron muestras de sangre en tres momentos durante dos años, aproximadamente. Luego utilizamos estas muestras de sangre para caracterizar la expresión del gen CTRA de los participantes, que cuantificamos utilizando una puntuación compuesta a priori de 53 transcripciones derivada de datos de secuenciación de ARN (RNA, por sus siglas en inglés) de leucocitos de sangre periférica.

Resultados:: Según la hipótesis, una mayor conexión comunitaria se relacionó significativamente con una disminución de la expresión del gen CTRA a lo largo del tiempo. Estos efectos fueron similares independientemente del estado del VIH y fueron sólidos ante el ajuste estadístico por varios posibles factores de confusión. Por el contrario, ni la homofobia ni el racismo estaban relacionados con la expresión del gen CTRA.

Conclusión:: Estos resultados sugieren que la conexión comunitaria puede ser un factor protector que reduce los procesos biológicos conocidos que impactan negativamente la salud. En consecuencia, las intervenciones y políticas destinadas a reducir las disparidades de salud en poblaciones marginadas pueden beneficiarse de una mayor conexión e inclusión comunitaria.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, or publication of this article.

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