Pyrosequencing analysis of SNCA methylation levels in leukocytes from Parkinson's disease patients

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2014.03.076
• Publication Date: 2014-04-08T01:45:46Z
• Authors: Yang Song; Hui Ding; Jingfang Yang; Qingling Lin; Jinhua Xue; Yanli Zhang; Piu Chan; Yanning Cai
• Keywords: Male; 0301 basic medicine; Base Sequence; Molecular Sequence Data; Parkinson Disease; Sequence Analysis, DNA; DNA Methylation; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Case-Control Studies; Leukocytes; alpha-Synuclein; Humans; CpG Islands; Female; Aged

DNA methylation of a CpG island located in intron 1 of the α-synuclein gene (SNCA) has been reported to play an essential role in the regulation of α-synuclein transcription, and probably has a close association with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, there is no simple and cost effective method to quantify DNA methylation in this region. Additionally, whether this CpG island is hypomethylated in peripheral blood in PD and can be used as PD biomarker is still under debate. In the present study, we developed a set of bisulfite pyrosequencing assays which can be used to examine the DNA methylation level of 13 CpG sites in intron 1 of SNCA. We compared DNA methylation levels at these sites in leukocytes from 50 PD patients and 50 healthy controls. Our results indicated that there were no significant differences in DNA methylation between PD patients and controls.