Altered DNA methylome profiles of blood leukocytes in Chinese patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

Bibliographic Details
Title: Altered DNA methylome profiles of blood leukocytes in Chinese patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Shaochang Wu, Fan Yang, Shan Chao, Bo Wang, Wuqian Wang, He Li, Limei Yu, Lin He, Xingwang Li, Liya Sun, Shengying Qin
Source: Frontiers in Genetics, Vol 14 (2023)
Publisher Information: Frontiers Media S.A., 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Genetics
Subject Terms: mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, blood DNA methylome profile, differentially methylated CpG sites, potential biomarker, Genetics, QH426-470
More Details: Objective: DNA methylation plays a potential role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, little is known about the global changes of blood leukocyte DNA methylome profiles from Chinese patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and with AD, or the specific DNA methylation-based signatures associated with MCI and AD. In this study, we sought to dissect the characteristics of blood DNA methylome profiles in MCI- and AD-affected Chinese patients with the aim of identifying novel DNA methylation biomarkers for AD.Methods: In this study, we profiled the DNA methylome of peripheral blood leukocytes from 20 MCI- and 20 AD-affected Chinese patients and 20 cognitively healthy controls (CHCs) with the Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip array.Results: We identified significant alterations of the methylome profiles in MCI and AD blood leukocytes. A total of 2,582 and 20,829 CpG sites were significantly and differentially methylated in AD and MCI compared with CHCs (adjusted p < 0.05), respectively. Furthermore, 441 differentially methylated positions (DMPs), aligning to 213 unique genes, were overlapped by the three comparative groups of AD versus CHCs, MCI versus CHCs, and AD versus MCI, of which 6 and 5 DMPs were continuously hypermethylated and hypomethylated in MCI and AD relative to CHCs (adjusted p < 0.05), respectively, such as FLNC cg20186636 and AFAP1 cg06758191. The DMPs with an area under the curve >0.900, such as cg18771300, showed high potency for predicting MCI and AD. In addition, gene ontology and pathway enrichment results showed that these overlapping genes were mainly involved in neurotransmitter transport, GABAergic synaptic transmission, signal release from synapse, neurotransmitter secretion, and the regulation of neurotransmitter levels. Furthermore, tissue expression enrichment analysis revealed a subset of potentially cerebral cortex-enriched genes associated with MCI and AD, including SYT7, SYN3, and KCNT1.Conclusion: This study revealed a number of potential biomarkers for MCI and AD, also highlighted the presence of epigenetically dysregulated gene networks that may engage in the underlying pathological events resulting in the onset of cognitive impairment and AD progression. Collectively, this study provides prospective cues for developing therapeutic strategies to improve cognitive impairment and AD course.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1664-8021
Relation: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2023.1175864/full; https://doaj.org/toc/1664-8021
DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1175864
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/4583d8015bc04b948a3516aa0e8348d8
Accession Number: edsdoj.4583d8015bc04b948a3516aa0e8348d8
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:16648021
DOI:10.3389/fgene.2023.1175864
Published in:Frontiers in Genetics
Language:English