Clin epigenesis: blood tests can detect the risk of Alzheimer's disease

October 16, 2019 / BIOON / - in a recent study, researchers found changes in blood sample markers associated with Alzheimer's disease Based on a study of Finnish twins, one with Alzheimer's disease and the other with cognitive health, the researchers used the latest genome-wide method to examine whether there are differences in epigenetic markers associated with the disease in twin blood samples and how sensitive these differences are to changes in environmental factors Finally, the researchers found these differences in several different regions of the genome The degree of symptom deterioration in advanced Alzheimer's disease is affected by genetic and environmental factors, including lifestyle Different environmental factors can change the function of disease-related genes by changing their epigenetic regulation, for example, by regulating the formation of methylation by influencing the DNA controlling gene function (image source: www Pixabay Com) by measuring the methylation level of DNA isolated from Finnish twin blood samples, the researchers found epigenetic markers related to Alzheimer's disease in several different genomic regions One of these markers is also stronger in brain samples from people with Alzheimer's disease In addition, a study of Swedish twins confirmed the link between the marker and Alzheimer's disease The researchers observed that the strength of the markers was affected not only by the disease, but also by age, gender and APOE genotype (known to be associated with the risk of Alzheimer's disease) At present, the function of related markers of this gene is not very clear The researchers suspect that the gene product inhibits the activity of some enzymes in the brain, which in turn affects protein synthesis In previous studies in mice, the authors noted that the removal of related markers from this genomic region can cause learning and memory problems, which are also the main symptoms of Alzheimer's disease Riikka Lund, a docent professor at the University of Turku who led the research team, explained that even though the results provided new information about the molecular mechanism of Alzheimer's disease, more research was needed to determine whether the epigenetic markers found could be used for diagnosis O, Harri Lähdesmäki, Juha O Rinne, Riikka J Lund Peripheral blood DNA methylation differences in twin pairs discordant for Alzheimer’s disease Clinical Epigenetics , 2019; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s13148-019-0729-7