Objective: We examined the methylation status of the DNA SNCA-intron1 at CD45+ blood cells in patients with sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: PD is a common neurodegenerative disease, the development of which caused by death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain. Alpha-synuclein oligomers are believed to be the major neurotoxic agents in neurodegenerative process in PD. SNCA gene expression has been shown to be regulated by DNA SNCA-intron1 methylation status.

Method: Here we examined alterations in the methylation status of the SNCA-intron1 in CD45+ blood cells from 50 drug-naïve patients (mean age 61.46±9.05 years) with sporadic PD and 65 controls (mean age 63.41±8.85 years) without neurological disorders. All subjects were residents of the North-Western region of Russia and provided informed consent. The study was approved by the local ethics committee. CD45+ cells were isolated from peripheral blood by density gradient centrifugation followed by magnetic separation of a homogeneous fraction of this cell. The assessment of SNCA-intron1 methylation status was performed using Next-Generation bisulphite sequencing on MiSeq. Bisulfite-mediated conversion of the genomic DNA (500 ng) was performed with commercial kit following appropriate instructions.

Results: No difference in the methylation of the SNCA-intron1 region was found between PD patients and controls (p=0.164). However, we have found an increased methylation of 21 and 22 CpG sites in PD patients compared to controls (p=0.045 and p=0.037, respectively).

Conclusion: Therefore, our data suggest the absence of association between DNA SNCA-intron 1 methylation in CD45+ blood cells and PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/alpha-synuclein-dna-methylation-in-cd45-blood-cells-in-parkinsons-disease/