Genes, Vol. 12, Pages 720: Mitochondrial D-Loop Region Methylation and Copy Number in Peripheral Blood DNA of Parkinson ’s Disease Patients

Genes, Vol. 12, Pages 720: Mitochondrial D-Loop Region Methylation and Copy Number in Peripheral Blood DNA of Parkinson’s Disease Patients Genes doi: 10.3390/genes12050720 Authors: Andrea Stoccoro Adam R. Smith Filippo Baldacci Claudia Del Gamba Annalisa Lo Gerfo Roberto Ceravolo Katie Lunnon Lucia Migliore Fabio Coppedè Altered mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) methylation has been detected in several human pathologies, although little attention has been given to neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, altered methylation levels of the mitochondrial displacement loop (D-loop) region, which regulates mtDNA replication, were observed in peripheral blood cells of Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. However, nothing is yet known about D-loop region methylation levels in peripheral blood of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. In the current study, we investigated D-loop methylation levels and mtDNA copy number in peripheral blood of 30 PD patients and 30 age- and sex-matched control subjects. DNA methylation analyses have been performed by means of methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting (MS-HRM) and pyrosequencing techniques, while mtDNA copy number was analyzed by quantitative PCR. MS-HRM and pyrosequencing analyses provided very similar D-loop methylation levels in PD patients and control subjects, and no differences between the two groups have been observed. Treatment with L-dopa and duration of the disease had no effect o...
Source: Genes - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research