Pyrosequencing analysis of SNCA methylation levels in leukocytes from Parkinson's disease patients.
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.
Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China.
Yang
Y
Song
Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China; Department of Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China.
Hui
H
Ding
Department of Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China.
Jingfang
J
Yang
Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China; Department of Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China.
Qingling
Q
Lin
Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China; Department of Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China.
Jinhua
J
Xue
Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China; Department of Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China.
Yanli
Y
Zhang
Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China; Department of Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China.
Piu
P
Chan
Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China; Department of Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Key Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Ministry of Education, Beijing 100053, PR China. Electronic address: Yanningcai@yahoo.com.
Yanning
Y
Cai
D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018899:CpG Islands; D019175:DNA Methylation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000378:metabolism*
C497604:SNCA protein, human; D051844:alpha-Synuclein
DNA methylation; Leukocytes; Pyrosequencing; α-Synuclein