Additional studies have identified transcriptional correlates of other socio-environmental conditions such as low socio-economic status (SES) (Chen et al., 2008) and the chronic threat of social loss (e.g., having a spouse with cancer) (Miller et al., 2008). These analyses also found up-regulated expression of leukocyte inflammatory genes, and identified specific psychological processes that appeared to contribute to those dynamics. For example, among children with asthma, those from a low-SES background tended to interpret ambiguous situations as threatening, and that perception of threat was more strongly linked to differential gene expression than was SES per se (Chen et al., 2008).
