title: DNA methylation of the BDNF gene and its relevance to psychiatric disorders.
abstract: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophic factor, which is important for neuronal survival, development and synaptic plasticity. Accumulating evidence suggests that epigenetic modifications of BDNF are associated with the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders. Patients with psychiatric disorders generally show decreased neural BDNF levels, which are often associated with increased DNA methylation at the specific BDNF promoters. Importantly, observed DNA methylation changes are consistent across tissues including brain and peripheral blood, which suggests potential usefulness of these findings as a biomarker of psychiatric disorders. Here we review DNA methylation characteristics of BDNF promoters of cellular, animal and clinical samples and discuss future perspectives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tempei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikegame
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bundo
authors.forename: Yui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Kiyoto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kasai
authors.forename: Tadafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001344:Autopsy; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor