%0 Journal Article
%T Elevated 5hmC levels characterize DNA of the cerebellum in Parkinson¡¯s disease
%A Freya Shephard
%A Lisa Chakrabarti
%A Paula J. Scaife
%A Reinhard St£¿ger
%J Archive of "NPJ Parkinson's Disease".
%D 2017
%R 10.1038/s41531-017-0007-3
%X 5-methylcytosine and the oxidation product 5-hydroxymethylcytosine are two prominent epigenetic variants of the cytosine base in nuclear DNA of mammalian brains. We measured levels of 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in DNA from post-mortem cerebella of individuals with Parkinson¡¯s disease and age-matched controls. 5-methylcytosine levels showed no significant differences between Parkinson¡¯s disease and control DNA sample sets. In contrast, median 5-hydroxymethylcytosine levels were almost twice as high (p£¿<£¿0.001) in both male and female Parkinson¡¯s disease individuals compared with controls. The distinct epigenetic profile identified in cerebellar DNA of Parkinson¡¯s disease patients raises the question whether elevated 5-hydroxymethylcytosine levels are a driver or a consequence of Parkinson¡¯s disease
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5460211/