TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhtz, Juliane A1 - Schneider, Eberhard A1 - El Hajj, Nady A1 - Zimmermann, Lena A1 - Fust, Olga A1 - Linek, Bartosz A1 - Seufert, Rudolf A1 - Hahn, Thomas A1 - Schorsch, Martin A1 - Haaf, Thomas T1 - Epigenetic heterogeneity of developmentally important genes in human sperm: Implications for assisted reproduction outcome JF - Epigenetics N2 - The molecular basis of male infertility is poorly understood, the majority of cases remaining unsolved. The association of aberrant sperm DNA methylation patterns and compromised semen parameters suggests that disturbances in male germline epigenetic reprogramming contribute to this problem. So far there are only few data on the epigenetic heterogeneity of sperm within a given sample and how to select the best sperm for successful infertility treatment. Limiting dilution bisulfite sequencing of small pools of sperm from fertile donors did not reveal significant differences in the occurrence of abnormal methylation imprints between sperm with and without morphological abnormalities. Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection was not associated with an improved epigenetic quality, compared to standard intracytoplasmatic sperm injection. Deep bisulfite sequencing (DBS) of 2 imprinted and 2 pluripotency genes in sperm from men attending a fertility center showed that in both samples with normozoospermia and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) the vast majority of sperm alleles was normally (de)methylated and the percentage of epimutations (allele methylation errors) was generally low (<1%). However, DBS allowed one to identify and quantify these rare epimutations with high accuracy. Sperm samples not leading to a pregnancy, in particular in the OAT group, had significantly more epimutations in the paternally methylated GTL2 gene than samples leading to a live birth. All 13 normozoospermic and 13 OAT samples leading to a child had <1% GTL2 epimutations, whereas one (7%) of 14 normozoospermic and 7 (50%) of 14 OAT samples without pregnancy displayed 1–14% GTL2 epimutations. KW - ART outcome KW - deep bisulfite sequencing KW - epigenetic heterogeneity KW - GTL2 KW - sperm DNA methylation KW - IMSI KW - ICSI Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-150261 VL - 9 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Eberhard A1 - Pliushch, Galyna A1 - El Hajj, Nady A1 - Galetzka, Danuta A1 - Puhl, Alexander A1 - Schorsch, Martin A1 - Frauenknecht, Katrin A1 - Riepert, Thomas A1 - Tresch, Achim A1 - Mueller, Annette M. A1 - Coerdt, Wiltrud A1 - Zechner, Ulrich A1 - Haaf, Thomas T1 - Spatial, temporal and interindividual epigenetic variation of functionally important DNA methylation patterns N2 - DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that plays an important role in gene regulation. It can be influenced by stochastic events, environmental factors and developmental programs. However, little is known about the natural variation of genespecific methylation patterns. In this study, we performed quantitative methylation analyses of six differentially methylated imprinted genes (H19, MEG3, LIT1, NESP55, PEG3 and SNRPN), one hypermethylated pluripotency gene (OCT4) and one hypomethylated tumor suppressor gene (APC) in chorionic villus, fetal and adult cortex, and adult blood samples. Both average methylation level and range of methylation variation depended on the gene locus, tissue type and/or developmental stage. We found considerable variability of functionally important methylation patterns among unrelated healthy individuals and a trend toward more similar methylation levels in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins. Imprinted genes showed relatively little methylation changes associated with aging in individuals who are >25 years. The relative differences in methylation among neighboring CpGs in the generally hypomethylated APC promoter may not only reflect stochastic fluctuations but also depend on the tissue type. Our results are consistent with the view that most methylation variation may arise after fertilization, leading to epigenetic mosaicism. KW - Medizin Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-68371 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marenholz, Ingo A1 - Esparza-Gordillo, Jorge A1 - Rüschendorf, Franz A1 - Bauerfeind, Anja A1 - Strachan, David P. A1 - Spycher, Ben D. A1 - Baurecht, Hansjörg A1 - Magaritte-Jeannin, Patricia A1 - Sääf, Annika A1 - Kerkhof, Marjan A1 - Ege, Markus A1 - Baltic, Svetlana A1 - Matheson, Melanie C. A1 - Li, Jin A1 - Michel, Sven A1 - Ang, Wei Q. A1 - McArdle, Wendy A1 - Arnold, Andreas A1 - Homuth, Georg A1 - Demenais, Florence A1 - Bouzigon, Emmanuelle A1 - Söderhäll, Cilla A1 - Pershagen, Göran A1 - de Jongste, Johan C. A1 - Postma, Dirkje S. A1 - Braun-Fahrländer, Charlotte A1 - Horak, Elisabeth A1 - Ogorodova, Ludmila M. A1 - Puzyrev, Valery P. A1 - Bragina, Elena Yu A1 - Hudson, Thomas J. A1 - Morin, Charles A1 - Duffy, David L. A1 - Marks, Guy B. A1 - Robertson, Colin F. A1 - Montgomery, Grant W. A1 - Musk, Bill A1 - Thompson, Philip J. A1 - Martin, Nicholas G. A1 - James, Alan A1 - Sleiman, Patrick A1 - Toskala, Elina A1 - Rodriguez, Elke A1 - Fölster-Holst, Regina A1 - Franke, Andre A1 - Lieb, Wolfgang A1 - Gieger, Christian A1 - Heinzmann, Andrea A1 - Rietschel, Ernst A1 - Keil, Thomas A1 - Cichon, Sven A1 - Nöthen, Markus M. A1 - Pennel, Craig E. A1 - Sly, Peter D. A1 - Schmidt, Carsten O. A1 - Matanovic, Anja A1 - Schneider, Valentin A1 - Heinig, Matthias A1 - Hübner, Norbert A1 - Holt, Patrick G. A1 - Lau, Susanne A1 - Kabesch, Michael A1 - Weidinger, Stefan A1 - Hakonarson, Hakon A1 - Ferreira, Manuel A. R. A1 - Laprise, Catherine A1 - Freidin, Maxim B. A1 - Genuneit, Jon A1 - Koppelman, Gerard H. A1 - Melén, Erik A1 - Dizier, Marie-Hélène A1 - Henderson, A. John A1 - Lee, Young Ae T1 - Meta-analysis identifies seven susceptibility loci involved in the atopic march JF - Nature Communications N2 - Eczema often precedes the development of asthma in a disease course called the 'atopic march'. To unravel the genes underlying this characteristic pattern of allergic disease, we conduct a multi-stage genome-wide association study on infantile eczema followed by childhood asthma in 12 populations including 2,428 cases and 17,034 controls. Here we report two novel loci specific for the combined eczema plus asthma phenotype, which are associated with allergic disease for the first time; rs9357733 located in EFHC1 on chromosome 6p12.3 (OR 1.27; P = 2.1 x 10(-8)) and rs993226 between TMTC2 and SLC6A15 on chromosome 12q21.3 (OR 1.58; P = 5.3 x 10(-9)). Additional susceptibility loci identified at genome-wide significance are FLG (1q21.3), IL4/KIF3A (5q31.1), AP5B1/OVOL1 (11q13.1), C11orf30/LRRC32 (11q13.5) and IKZF3 (17q21). We show that predominantly eczema loci increase the risk for the atopic march. Our findings suggest that eczema may play an important role in the development of asthma after eczema. KW - chromosome 11Q13 KW - risk KW - genomewide association KW - hay fever KW - birth cohort KW - filaggrin mutations KW - food allergy KW - juvenile myoclonic epilepsy KW - childhood asthma KW - dermatitis Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-139835 VL - 6 IS - 8804 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Manchia, Mirko A1 - Adli, Mazda A1 - Akula, Nirmala A1 - Arda, Raffaella A1 - Aubry, Jean-Michel A1 - Backlund, Lena A1 - Banzato, Claudio E. M. A1 - Baune, Bernhard T. A1 - Bellivier, Frank A1 - Bengesser, Susanne A1 - Biernacka, Joanna M. A1 - Brichant-Petitjean, Clara A1 - Bui, Elise A1 - Calkin, Cynthia V. A1 - Cheng, Andrew Tai Ann A1 - Chillotti, Caterina A1 - Cichon, Sven A1 - Clark, Scott A1 - Czerski, Piotr M. A1 - Dantas, Clarissa A1 - Del Zompo, Maria A1 - DePaulo, J. Raymond A1 - Detera-Wadleigh, Sevilla D. A1 - Etain, Bruno A1 - Falkai, Peter A1 - Frisén, Louise A1 - Frye, Mark A. A1 - Fullerton, Jan A1 - Gard, Sébastien A1 - Garnham, Julie A1 - Goes, Fernando S. A1 - Grof, Paul A1 - Gruber, Oliver A1 - Hashimoto, Ryota A1 - Hauser, Joanna A1 - Heilbronner, Urs A1 - Hoban, Rebecca A1 - Hou, Liping A1 - Jamain, Stéphane A1 - Kahn, Jean-Pierre A1 - Kassem, Layla A1 - Kato, Tadafumi A1 - Kelsoe, John R. A1 - Kittel-Schneider, Sarah A1 - Kliwicki, Sebastian A1 - Kuo, Po-Hsiu A1 - Kusumi, Ichiro A1 - Laje, Gonzalo A1 - Lavebratt, Catharina A1 - Leboyer, Marion A1 - Leckband, Susan G. A1 - López Jaramillo, Carlos A. A1 - Maj, Mario A1 - Malafosse, Alain A1 - Martinsson, Lina A1 - Masui, Takuya A1 - Mitchell, Philip B. A1 - Mondimore, Frank A1 - Monteleone, Palmiero A1 - Nallet, Audrey A1 - Neuner, Maria A1 - Novák, Tomás A1 - O'Donovan, Claire A1 - Ösby, Urban A1 - Ozaki, Norio A1 - Perlis, Roy H. A1 - Pfennig, Andrea A1 - Potash, James B. A1 - Reich-Erkelenz, Daniela A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Reininghaus, Eva A1 - Richardson, Sara A1 - Rouleau, Guy A. A1 - Rybakowski, Janusz K. A1 - Schalling, Martin A1 - Schofield, Peter R. A1 - Schubert, Oliver K. A1 - Schweizer, Barbara A1 - Seemüller, Florian A1 - Grigoroiu-Serbanescu, Maria A1 - Severino, Giovanni A1 - Seymour, Lisa R. A1 - Slaney, Claire A1 - Smoller, Jordan W. A1 - Squassina, Alessio A1 - Stamm, Thomas A1 - Steele, Jo A1 - Stopkova, Pavla A1 - Tighe, Sarah K. A1 - Tortorella, Alfonso A1 - Turecki, Gustavo A1 - Wray, Naomi R. A1 - Wright, Adam A1 - Zandi, Peter P. A1 - Zilles, David A1 - Bauer, Michael A1 - Rietschel, Marcella A1 - McMahon, Francis J. A1 - Schulze, Thomas G. A1 - Alda, Martin T1 - Assessment of Response to Lithium Maintenance Treatment in Bipolar Disorder: A Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen) Report JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Objective: The assessment of response to lithium maintenance treatment in bipolar disorder (BD) is complicated by variable length of treatment, unpredictable clinical course, and often inconsistent compliance. Prospective and retrospective methods of assessment of lithium response have been proposed in the literature. In this study we report the key phenotypic measures of the "Retrospective Criteria of Long-Term Treatment Response in Research Subjects with Bipolar Disorder" scale currently used in the Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen) study. Materials and Methods: Twenty-nine ConLiGen sites took part in a two-stage case-vignette rating procedure to examine inter-rater agreement [Kappa (\(\kappa\))] and reliability [intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC)] of lithium response. Annotated first-round vignettes and rating guidelines were circulated to expert research clinicians for training purposes between the two stages. Further, we analyzed the distributional properties of the treatment response scores available for 1,308 patients using mixture modeling. Results: Substantial and moderate agreement was shown across sites in the first and second sets of vignettes (\(\kappa\) = 0.66 and \(\kappa\) = 0.54, respectively), without significant improvement from training. However, definition of response using the A score as a quantitative trait and selecting cases with B criteria of 4 or less showed an improvement between the two stages (\(ICC_1 = 0.71\) and \(ICC_2 = 0.75\), respectively). Mixture modeling of score distribution indicated three subpopulations (full responders, partial responders, non responders). Conclusions: We identified two definitions of lithium response, one dichotomous and the other continuous, with moderate to substantial inter-rater agreement and reliability. Accurate phenotypic measurement of lithium response is crucial for the ongoing ConLiGen pharmacogenomic study. KW - age KW - observer agreement KW - prophylactic lithium KW - mapping susceptibility genes KW - mood disorders KW - onset KW - association KW - reliability KW - morality KW - illness Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130938 VL - 8 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rayner, Christopher A1 - Coleman, Jonathan R. I. A1 - Purves, Kirstin L. A1 - Hodsoll, John A1 - Goldsmith, Kimberley A1 - Alpers, Georg W. A1 - Andersson, Evelyn A1 - Arolt, Volker A1 - Boberg, Julia A1 - Bögels, Susan A1 - Creswell, Cathy A1 - Cooper, Peter A1 - Curtis, Charles A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Domschke, Katharina A1 - El Alaoui, Samir A1 - Fehm, Lydia A1 - Fydrich, Thomas A1 - Gerlach, Alexander L. A1 - Grocholewski, Anja A1 - Hahlweg, Kurt A1 - Hamm, Alfons A1 - Hedman, Erik A1 - Heiervang, Einar R. A1 - Hudson, Jennifer L. A1 - Jöhren, Peter A1 - Keers, Robert A1 - Kircher, Tilo A1 - Lang, Thomas A1 - Lavebratt, Catharina A1 - Lee, Sang-hyuck A1 - Lester, Kathryn J. A1 - Lindefors, Nils A1 - Margraf, Jürgen A1 - Nauta, Maaike A1 - Pané-Farré, Christiane A. A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Rapee, Ronald M. A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Rief, Winfried A1 - Roberts, Susanna A1 - Schalling, Martin A1 - Schneider, Silvia A1 - Silverman, Wendy K. A1 - Ströhle, Andreas A1 - Teismann, Tobias A1 - Thastum, Mikael A1 - Wannemüller, Andre A1 - Weber, Heike A1 - Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich A1 - Wolf, Christiane A1 - Rück, Christian A1 - Breen, Gerome A1 - Eley, Thalia C. T1 - A genome-wide association meta-analysis of prognostic outcomes following cognitive behavioural therapy in individuals with anxiety and depressive disorders JF - Translational Psychiatry N2 - Major depressive disorder and the anxiety disorders are highly prevalent, disabling and moderately heritable. Depression and anxiety are also highly comorbid and have a strong genetic correlation (r(g) approximate to 1). Cognitive behavioural therapy is a leading evidence-based treatment but has variable outcomes. Currently, there are no strong predictors of outcome. Therapygenetics research aims to identify genetic predictors of prognosis following therapy. We performed genome-wide association meta-analyses of symptoms following cognitive behavioural therapy in adults with anxiety disorders (n = 972), adults with major depressive disorder (n = 832) and children with anxiety disorders (n = 920; meta-analysis n = 2724). We (h(SNP)(2)) and polygenic scoring was used to examine genetic associations between therapy outcomes and psychopathology, personality and estimated the variance in therapy outcomes that could be explained by common genetic variants learning. No single nucleotide polymorphisms were strongly associated with treatment outcomes. No significant estimate of h(SNP)(2) could be obtained, suggesting the heritability of therapy outcome is smaller than our analysis was powered to detect. Polygenic scoring failed to detect genetic overlap between therapy outcome and psychopathology, personality or learning. This study is the largest therapygenetics study to date. Results are consistent with previous, similarly powered genome-wide association studies of complex traits. KW - Human behaviour KW - Personalized medicine KW - Prognostic markers KW - Psychiatric disorders Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-225048 VL - 9 IS - 150 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Willeke, Kristina A1 - Janson, Patrick A1 - Zink, Katharina A1 - Stupp, Carolin A1 - Kittel-Schneider, Sarah A1 - Berghöfer, Anne A1 - Ewert, Thomas A1 - King, Ryan A1 - Heuschmann, Peter U. A1 - Zapf, Andreas A1 - Wildner, Manfred A1 - Keil, Thomas T1 - Occurrence of mental illness and mental health risks among the self-employed: a systematic review JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health N2 - We aimed to systematically identify and evaluate all studies of good quality that compared the occurrence of mental disorders in the self-employed versus employees. Adhering to the Cochrane guidelines, we conducted a systematic review and searched three major medical databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase), complemented by hand search. We included 26 (three longitudinal and 23 cross-sectional) population-based studies of good quality (using a validated quality assessment tool), with data from 3,128,877 participants in total. The longest of these studies, a Swedish national register evaluation with 25 years follow-up, showed a higher incidence of mental illness among the self-employed compared to white-collar workers, but a lower incidence compared to blue-collar workers. In the second longitudinal study from Sweden the self-employed had a lower incidence of mental illness compared to both blue- and white-collar workers over 15 years, whereas the third longitudinal study (South Korea) did not find a difference regarding the incidence of depressive symptoms over 6 years. Results from the cross-sectional studies showed associations between self-employment and poor general mental health and stress, but were inconsistent regarding other mental outcomes. Most studies from South Korea found a higher prevalence of mental disorders among the self-employed compared to employees, whereas the results of cross-sectional studies from outside Asia were less consistent. In conclusion, we found evidence from population-based studies for a link between self-employment and increased risk of mental illness. Further longitudinal studies are needed examining the potential risk for the development of mental disorders in specific subtypes of the self-employed. KW - incidence KW - mental disorders KW - mental health KW - mental illness KW - prevalence KW - self-employed KW - small business KW - systematic review Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245085 SN - 1660-4601 VL - 18 IS - 16 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Leopold, Karolina A1 - Bauer, Michael A1 - Bechdolf, Andreas A1 - Correll, Christoph U. A1 - Holtmann, Martin A1 - Juckel, Georg A1 - Lambert, Martin A1 - Meyer, Thomas D. A1 - Pfeiffer, Steffi A1 - Kittel‐Schneider, Sarah A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Stamm, Thomas J. A1 - Rottmann‐Wolf, Maren A1 - Mathiebe, Josephine A1 - Kellmann, Eva L. A1 - Ritter, Philipp A1 - Krüger‐Özgürdal, Seza A1 - Karow, Anne A1 - Sondergeld, Lene‐Marie A1 - Roessner, Veit A1 - Sauer, Cathrin A1 - Pfennig, Andrea T1 - Efficacy of cognitive‐behavioral group therapy in patients at risk for serious mental illness presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms: Results from a prespecified interim analysis of a multicenter, randomized, controlled study JF - Bipolar Disorders N2 - Objective Most patients with bipolar disorders (BD) exhibit prodromal symptoms before a first (hypo)manic episode. Patients with clinically significant symptoms fulfilling at‐risk criteria for serious mental illness (SMI) require effective and safe treatment. Cognitive‐behavioral psychotherapy (CBT) has shown promising results in early stages of BD and in patients at high risk for psychosis. We aimed to investigate whether group CBT can improve symptoms and functional deficits in young patients at risk for SMI presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms. Method In a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial, patients at clinical risk for SMI presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms aged 15‐30 years were randomized to 14 weeks of at‐risk for BD‐specific group CBT or unstructured group meetings. Primary efficacy endpoints were differences in affective symptomatology and psychosocial functioning at 14 weeks. At‐risk status was defined as a combination of subthreshold bipolar symptomatology, reduction of psychosocial functioning and a family history for (schizo)affective disorders. A prespecified interim analysis was conducted at 75% of the targeted sample. Results Of 128 screened participants, 75 were randomized to group CBT (n = 38, completers = 65.8%) vs unstructured group meetings (n = 37, completers = 78.4%). Affective symptomatology and psychosocial functioning improved significantly at week 14 (P < .001) and during 6 months (P < .001) in both groups, without significant between‐group differences. Findings are limited by the interim character of the analysis, the use of not fully validated early detection interviews, a newly adapted intervention manual, and the substantial drop‐outs. Conclusions Results suggest that young patients at‐risk for SMI presenting with subthreshold bipolar symptoms benefit from early group sessions. The degree of specificity and psychotherapeutic interaction needed requires clarification. KW - at‐risk KW - bipolar disorder KW - CBT KW - early intervention KW - group treatment KW - prodromal KW - serious mental illness KW - subthreshold bipolar Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215469 VL - 22 IS - 5 SP - 517 EP - 529 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Eberhard A1 - El Hajj, Nady A1 - Müller, Fabian A1 - Navarro, Bianca A1 - Haaf, Thomas T1 - Epigenetic Dysregulation in the Prefrontal Cortex of Suicide Completers JF - Cytogenetic and Genome Research N2 - The epigenome is thought to mediate between genes and the environment, particularly in response to adverse life experiences. Similar to other psychiatric diseases, the suicide liability of an individual appears to be influenced by many genetic factors of small effect size as well as by environmental stressors. To identify epigenetic marks associated with suicide, which is considered the endpoint of complex gene-environment interactions, we compared the cortex DNA methylation patterns of 6 suicide completers versus 6 non-psychiatric sudden-death controls, using Illumina 450K methylation arrays. Consistent with a multifactorial disease model, we found DNA methylation changes in a large number of genes, but no changes with large effects reaching genome-wide significance. Global methylation of all analyzed CpG sites was significantly (0.25 percentage point) lower in suicide than in control brains, whereas the vast majority (97%) of the top 1,000 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were higher methylated (0.6 percentage point) in suicide brains. Annotation analysis of the top 1,000 DMRs revealed an enrichment of differentially methylated promoters in functional categories associated with transcription and expression in the brain. In addition, we performed a comprehensive literature research to identify suicide genes that have been replicated in independent genetic association, brain methylation and/or expression studies. Although, in general, there was no significant overlap between different published data sets or between our top 1,000 DMRs and published data sets, our methylation screen strengthens a number of candidate genes (APLP2, BDNF, HTR1A, NUAK1, PHACTR3, MSMP, SLC6A4, SYN2, and SYNE2) and supports a role for epigenetics in the pathophysiology of suicide. KW - Cortex KW - DNA methylation KW - Suicidal behavior KW - Transcription regulation Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-199032 SN - 1424-8581 SN - 1424-859X VL - 146 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schneider, Eberhard A1 - El Hajj, Nady A1 - Haaf, Thomas T1 - Epigenetic Information from Ancient DNA Provides New Insights into Human Evolution BT - Commentary on Gokhman D et al. (2014): Reconstructing the DNA Methylation Maps of the Neanderthal and the Denisovan. Science 344:523–527 JF - Brain, Behavior and Evolution N2 - No abstract available. KW - human evolution KW - Neanderthal Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-196800 SN - 0006-8977 SN - 1421-9743 N1 - This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively. VL - 84 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - El Hajj, Nady A1 - Dittrich, Marcus A1 - Böck, Julia A1 - Kraus, Theo F. J. A1 - Nanda, Indrajit A1 - Müller, Tobias A1 - Seidmann, Larissa A1 - Tralau, Tim A1 - Galetzka, Danuta A1 - Schneider, Eberhard A1 - Haaf, Thomas T1 - Epigenetic dysregulation in the developing Down syndrome cortex JF - Epigenetics N2 - Using Illumina 450K arrays, 1.85% of all analyzed CpG sites were significantly hypermethylated and 0.31% hypomethylated in fetal Down syndrome (DS) cortex throughout the genome. The methylation changes on chromosome 21 appeared to be balanced between hypo- and hyper-methylation, whereas, consistent with prior reports, all other chromosomes showed 3-11times more hyper- than hypo-methylated sites. Reduced NRSF/REST expression due to upregulation of DYRK1A (on chromosome 21q22.13) and methylation of REST binding sites during early developmental stages may contribute to this genome-wide excess of hypermethylated sites. Upregulation of DNMT3L (on chromosome 21q22.4) could lead to de novo methylation in neuroprogenitors, which then persists in the fetal DS brain where DNMT3A and DNMT3B become downregulated. The vast majority of differentially methylated promoters and genes was hypermethylated in DS and located outside chromosome 21, including the protocadherin gamma (PCDHG) cluster on chromosome 5q31, which is crucial for neural circuit formation in the developing brain. Bisulfite pyrosequencing and targeted RNA sequencing showed that several genes of PCDHG subfamilies A and B are hypermethylated and transcriptionally downregulated in fetal DS cortex. Decreased PCDHG expression is expected to reduce dendrite arborization and growth in cortical neurons. Since constitutive hypermethylation of PCDHG and other genes affects multiple tissues, including blood, it may provide useful biomarkers for DS brain development and pharmacologic targets for therapeutic interventions. KW - trisomy 21 KW - DNA methylation KW - Down syndrome KW - fetal brain development KW - frontal cortex KW - protocadherin gamma cluster Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-191239 VL - 11 IS - 8 ER -