AUTHOR=Henderson Adrienne R. , Wang Qi , Meechoovet Bessie , Siniard Ashley L. , Naymik Marcus , De Both Matthew , Huentelman Matthew J. , Caselli Richard J. , Driver-Dunckley Erika , Dunckley Travis TITLE=DNA Methylation and Expression Profiles of Whole Blood in Parkinson’s Disease JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2021.640266 DOI=10.3389/fgene.2021.640266 ISSN=1664-8021 ABSTRACT=
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disease. It is presently only accurately diagnosed at an advanced stage by a series of motor deficits, which are predated by a litany of non-motor symptoms manifesting over years or decades. Aberrant epigenetic modifications exist across a range of diseases and are non-invasively detectable in blood as potential markers of disease. We performed comparative analyses of the methylome and transcriptome in blood from PD patients and matched controls. Our aim was to characterize DNA methylation and gene expression patterns in whole blood from PD patients as a foundational step toward the future goal of identifying molecular markers that could predict, accurately diagnose, or track the progression of PD. We found that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were involved in the processes of transcription and mitochondrial function and that PD methylation profiles were readily distinguishable from healthy controls, even in whole-blood DNA samples. Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were functionally varied, including near transcription factor nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha (