Parkinson's disease correlates with promoter methylation in the α-synuclein gene.

BACKGROUND

Genome-wide association studies have demonstrated association between SNCA variability and susceptibility to Parkinson's disease, but causal mechanisms are unclear. We hypothesized that risk variants affect methylation of a putative promoter in SNCA intron 1, previously highlighted in epigenetic studies of Parkinson's disease.

METHODS

We analyzed sample sets from blood (n = 72) and cerebral cortex (n = 24) in Parkinson's disease patients and healthy controls. We genotyped SNCA single-nucleotide polymorphisms, examined messenger RNA (mRNA) expression and assessed intron 1 methylation levels by methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme digestion and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

RESULTS

Patients showed significant hypomethylation as compared with controls in the blood sample set. In addition, rs3756063 was associated with SNCA methylation level in both blood (P = 5.9 × 10(-5)) and brain (P = 0.023).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings support a link between SNCA variability, promoter methylation, and Parkinson's disease risk and indicate that methylation patterns in brain are mirrored in the blood. SNCA methylation warrants further investigation as a potential biomarker.