Epigenetics and etiology of neurodegenerative diseases
Journal Title: Advances in Hygiene and Experimental Medicine - Year 2011, Vol 65, Issue 0
Abstract
Determination of specific gene profile expression is essential for morphological and functional differentiation of cells in the human organism. The human genome consists of 25–30 thousands genes but only some of them are expressed in each cell. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, histone and chromatin modifications or non-coding RNA functions are also responsible for the unique gene expression patterns. It is suggested that transcriptional gene activation is related to hypomethylation and the transcriptionally non-active sequences are hypermethylated. Covalent histone modifications and DNA methylation are correlated and interacting. Chromatin modeling is regulated not only by specific enzymes but also by protein kinases or phosphatases and coactivators, such as CBP. Such interaction makes the “histone code” which with the chromatin proteins determines gene expression patterns as the response to external agents. Evidence of a major role for epigenetic modifications in neurological disease has come from three converging lines of enquiry: high conservation throughout evolution of the histone residues that are the target for epigenetic modifications; association between mutations in epigenetic components and multisystem disease syndrome in the nervous system; and broad efficacy of small-molecule epigenetic modulators, e.g. histone deacetylase inhibitors, in models of neurological diseases incurable up to now, such as Huntington’s disease, (HD), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This article is a survey of the literature concerning the characterization of gene expression patterns correlated with some neurodegenerative diseases. The processes of DNA hypomethylation and histone acetylation are emphasized. The histone deacetylases are indicated as the basis for design of potential drugs.
Authors and Affiliations
Beata Gruber
The role of hepcidin in iron metabolism in inflammatory bowel diseases
Hepcidin is a 25-amino-acid peptide synthesized predominantly in hepatocytes, which plays an essential role in the regulation of systemic iron homeostasis. As a result of inflammation, hepcidin binds to ferroportin resul...
Anti-cancer properties epigallocatechin-gallate contained in green tea
Numerous in vivo and in vitro studies point to the possibility of using green tea’s catechins in chemoprevention of cancer. Recent studies show the inhibitory effects of epigallocatechin gallate on the growth of existing...
Histamina w regulacji procesów przebudowy kości
Przebudowa kości podlega regulacji autokrynnej, parakrynnej, endokrynnej oraz przez ośrodkowy układ nerwowy. Jednym z potencjalnych endogennych czynników wpływających na przebudowę kości jest histamina, amina endogenna p...
The role of intestinal microbiota in irritable bowel syndrome
In recent years, impressive advances in the knowledge about a vast number of microbes living in the human body and interactions between the microbiota and the human body have been observed. All micro-organisms that live...
Właściwości reologiczne erytrocytów u pacjentów zakażonych Clostridium difficile