LJ Roberts Center for Alzheimer's Research, Sun Health Research Institute, Sun City, AZ, USA.
PLoS One. 2009 Aug 12;4(8):e6617. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006617.
DNA methylation is capable of modulating coordinate expression of large numbers of genes across many different pathways, and may therefore warrant investigation for their potential role between genes and disease phenotype. In a rare set of monozygotic twins discordant for Alzheimer's disease (AD), significantly reduced levels of DNA methylation were observed in temporal neocortex neuronal nuclei of the AD twin. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that epigenetic mechanisms may mediate at the molecular level the effects of life events on AD risk, and provide, for the first time, a potential explanation for AD discordance despite genetic similarities.
DNA 甲基化能够调节许多不同途径中大量基因的协调表达，因此值得研究它们在基因和疾病表型之间的潜在作用。在一组罕见的阿尔茨海默病（AD）不一致的同卵双胞胎中，AD 双胞胎的颞叶新皮质神经元核中观察到 DNA 甲基化水平显著降低。这些发现与这样一种假设一致，即表观遗传机制可能在分子水平上介导生活事件对 AD 风险的影响，并首次为 AD 不一致提供了一个潜在的解释，尽管存在遗传相似性。
