University of Teramo, Bioscience, Teramo, Italy.
Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Stockholm, Sweden.
Curr Med Chem. 2022;29(36):5782-5791. doi: 10.2174/0929867328666211208115536.
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is a promising candidate biomarker in both the development and aetiology of different neuropsychiatric conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Most of the studies in the field have been carried out in blood cells, including peripheral blood mononucleated cells (PBMCs), although DNA of high quality can be easily isolated from saliva.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the epigenetic regulation of the BDNF gene in the saliva of a clinical sample of OCD patients in order to assess this source as an alternative to blood.
We first analyzed DNA methylation levels at BDNF in the saliva of subjects suffering from OCD (n= 50) and healthy controls (n=50). Then, we compared these data with the results previously obtained for the same genomic region in blood samples from the same patients and controls (CTRL).
Our preliminary data showed a significant reduction of 5mC levels at BDNF gene (OCD: 1.23 ± 0.45; CTRL: 1.85 ± 0.64; p < 0.0001) and a significant correlation between DNA methylation in PBMCs and saliva (Spearman r = 0.2788).
We support the perspective that saliva could be a possible, reliable source, and a substitute for blood, in search of epigenetic biomarkers in OCD.
脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）是一种有前途的候选生物标志物，在包括强迫症（OCD）在内的不同神经精神疾病的发展和病因中都有作用。该领域的大多数研究都是在血细胞中进行的，包括外周血单核细胞（PBMC），尽管唾液中可以很容易地分离出高质量的 DNA。
本研究旨在评估强迫症患者临床样本唾液中 BDNF 基因的表观遗传调控，以评估其作为血液替代物的可能性。
我们首先分析了 50 名强迫症患者和 50 名健康对照者唾液中 BDNF 的 DNA 甲基化水平。然后，我们将这些数据与从同一患者和对照者的血液样本中获得的相同基因组区域的先前结果进行了比较（CTRL）。
我们的初步数据显示 BDNF 基因的 5mC 水平显著降低（强迫症：1.23 ± 0.45；CTRL：1.85 ± 0.64；p < 0.0001），并且 PBMCs 和唾液中的 DNA 甲基化之间存在显著相关性（Spearman r = 0.2788）。
我们支持这样一种观点，即唾液可能是一种可行的、可靠的来源，可替代血液，用于寻找 OCD 中的表观遗传生物标志物。
