Stoccoro Andrea, Coppedè Fabio
Department of Translational Research & New Technologies in Medicine & Surgery, Section of Medical Genetics, University of Pisa, Via Roma 55, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Department of Medical Biotechnologies, Doctoral School in Genetics, Oncology & Clinical Medicine, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
Neurodegener Dis Manag. 2018 Jun;8(3):181-193. doi: 10.2217/nmt-2018-0004. Epub 2018 Jun 11.
Advances in molecular biology technologies have allowed uncovering the role of epigenetic regulation in several complex diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Although the role of epigenetic mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease is still little understood, recent findings clearly show that such mechanisms are dysregulated during disease progression, already in its early stages. However, it is not clear if the observed epigenetic changes represent a cause or a consequence of the disease. Promising results are emerging from studies performed in peripheral blood DNA that could provide early biomarkers of the pathology. Moreover, given the dynamic nature of the epigenetic marks, intense research is carried out to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of compounds exerting epigenetic properties.
分子生物学技术的进步使得人们能够揭示表观遗传调控在多种复杂疾病（如癌症和神经退行性疾病）中的作用。尽管表观遗传机制在阿尔茨海默病中的作用仍知之甚少，但最近的研究结果清楚地表明，这些机制在疾病进展过程中，甚至在早期阶段就已经失调。然而，尚不清楚观察到的表观遗传变化是该疾病的原因还是结果。在外周血DNA中进行的研究正在取得有前景的结果，这些结果可能提供该病理的早期生物标志物。此外，鉴于表观遗传标记的动态性质，人们正在进行深入研究，以探讨具有表观遗传特性的化合物的治疗效果。
