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REVIEW article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Epigenomics and Epigenetics
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1440143

m 5 C RNA methylation: a potential mechanism for infectious Alzheimer's disease

Provisionally accepted
Sisi Teng Sisi Teng 1Cunqiao Han Cunqiao Han 2Zhou Jian Zhou Jian 3,4Weiwei Qian Weiwei Qian 2,5*
  • 1 Department of Neurology, Shangjin Nanfu Hospital, Chengdu, China
  • 2 Department of Emergency Medicine, Shangjin Nanfu Hospital, Chengdu, China
  • 3 Department of Immunology, International Cancer Center, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen, China
  • 4 National-Regional Key Technology Engineering Laboratory for Medical Ultrasound, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen, China
  • 5 Department of Emergency Medicine, Laboratory of Emergency Medicine, West China Hospital, and Disaster Medical Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a variety of factors, including age, genetic susceptibility, cardiovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, and environmental factors. The pathogenesis of AD is largely associated with the overproduction and accumulation of amyloid-β peptides and the hyperphosphorylation of tau protein in the brain. Recent studies have identified the presence of diverse pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites, in the tissues of AD patients, underscoring the critical role of central nervous system infections in inducing pathological changes associated with AD. Nevertheless, it remains unestablished about the specific mechanism by which infections lead to the occurrence of AD. As an important posttranscriptional RNA modification, RNA 5-methylcytosine (m 5 C) methylation regulates a wide range of biological processes, including RNA splicing, nuclear export, stability, and translation, therefore affecting cellular function. Moreover, it has been recently demonstrated that multiple pathogenic microbial infections are associated with the m 5 C methylation of the host. However, the role of m 5 C methylation in infectious AD is still uncertain. Therefore, this review discusses the mechanisms of pathogen-induced AD and summarizes research on the molecular mechanisms of m 5 C methylation in infectious AD, thereby providing new insight into exploring the mechanism underlying infectious AD.

    Keywords: RNA methylation, m 5 C methylation, Alzheimer's disease, Infectious etiology, neurodegenerative disorder

    Received: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Teng, Han, Jian and Qian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Weiwei Qian, Department of Emergency Medicine, Shangjin Nanfu Hospital, Chengdu, China

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