DNA Methylation in and Genes Is Associated with Attention Deficit in Children.

DNA methylation levels are associated with neurodevelopment. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterized by attention deficits, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder. We used methylation microarray and pyrosequencing to detect peripheral blood DNA methylation markers of ADHD. DNA methylation profiling data from the microarray assays identified potential differentially methylated CpG sites between 12 ADHD patients and 9 controls. Five candidate CpG sites (cg00446123, cg20513976, cg07922513, cg17096979, and cg02506324) in four genes (, , , and ) were further examined with pyrosequencing. The attention of patients were tested using the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT). In total, 126 ADHD patients with a mean age of 9.2 years (78.6% males) and 72 healthy control subjects with a mean age of 9.3 years (62.5% males) were recruited. When all participants were categorized by their CPT performance, the DNA methylation levels in (cg00446123 and cg20513976) were found to be significantly higher and those in (cg02506324) were significantly lower in children with worse CPT performance. Therefore, DNA methylation of two CpG sites in and one CpG site in is associated with attention deficits in children. DNA methylation biomarkers may assist in identifying attention deficits of children in clinical settings.