Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, Institute for Molecules and Materials and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9101, NL-6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Mol Neurobiol. 2018 Jun;55(6):4681-4688. doi: 10.1007/s12035-017-0679-z. Epub 2017 Jul 13.
Concentrations of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) circulating in blood and its epigenetic variation, such as DNA methylation, may provide useful diagnostic or prognostic information. Long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1) constitutes approximately 20% of the human genome and its 5'UTR region is CpG rich. Due to its wide distribution, the methylation level of the 5'UTR of LINE-1 can serve as a surrogate marker of global genomic DNA methylation. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the methylation status of LINE-1 elements in serum cell-free DNA differs between relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients and healthy control subjects (CTR). Serum DNA samples of 6 patients and 6 controls were subjected to bisulfite sequencing. The results showed that the methylation level varies among distinct CpG sites in the 5'UTR of LINE-1 repeats and revealed differences in the methylation state of specific sites in this element between patients and controls. The latter differences were largely due to CpG sites in the L1PA2 subfamily, which were more frequently methylated in the RRMS patients than in the CTR group, whereas such differences were not observed in the L1HS subfamily. These data were verified by quantitative PCR using material from 18 patients and 18 control subjects. The results confirmed that the methylation level of a subset of the CpG sites within the LINE-1 promoter is elevated in DNA from RRMS patients in comparison with CTR. The present data suggest that the methylation status of CpG sites of LINE repeats could be a basis for development of diagnostic or prognostic tests.
循环血液中无细胞 DNA(cfDNA)的浓度及其表观遗传变化,如 DNA 甲基化,可能提供有用的诊断或预后信息。长散布核元件-1(LINE-1)约占人类基因组的 20%,其 5'UTR 区域富含 CpG。由于其广泛分布,LINE-1 的 5'UTR 甲基化水平可以作为全基因组 DNA 甲基化的替代标志物。本研究旨在探讨血清无细胞 DNA 中 LINE-1 元件的甲基化状态是否在复发缓解型多发性硬化症(RRMS)患者和健康对照组(CTR)之间存在差异。对 6 名患者和 6 名对照的血清 DNA 样本进行亚硫酸氢盐测序。结果表明,LINE-1 重复 5'UTR 中不同 CpG 位点的甲基化水平存在差异,并显示该元件中特定位点的甲基化状态在患者和对照组之间存在差异。后者的差异主要归因于 L1PA2 亚家族中的 CpG 位点,这些位点在 RRMS 患者中比在 CTR 组中更频繁地甲基化,而在 L1HS 亚家族中则没有观察到这种差异。使用来自 18 名患者和 18 名对照的材料通过定量 PCR 验证了这些数据。结果证实,与 CTR 相比,RRMS 患者 DNA 中 LINE-1 启动子内一组 CpG 位点的甲基化水平升高。本研究数据表明,LINE 重复序列的 CpG 位点的甲基化状态可能是开发诊断或预后测试的基础。