title: Role of DNA methylation in cardiovascular diseases.
abstract: A complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Environmental factors have crucial effects on the epigenetic trait of genes, which refers to a stably heritable phenotype resulting from changes in the chromosomes without alteration of the DNA sequence, but has profound effects on the cellular repertoire. Among the epigenetic patterns, DNA methylation is of great interest. DNA methylation occurs at both global and specific gene promoter levels and relates to atherosclerosis. Aberrant DNA methylation affects the transcription and expression of critical regulatory genes and induces a proatherogenic cellular phenotype, which plays key roles in endothelia cell dysfunction, abnormal vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, extracellular matrix formation, and inflammation in CVDs. This review focuses on the contribution of DNA methylation in the pathogenesis of CVDs.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cardiology, Daping Hospital , The Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , P.R. China.|b Chongqing Institute of Cardiology , Chongqing , P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cardiology, Daping Hospital , The Third Military Medical University , Chongqing , P.R. China.|b Chongqing Institute of Cardiology , Chongqing , P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chunyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype
keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; DNA methylation; environmental factor; epigenetic; gene