Open AccessAssociation between the methylation of six apoptosis‑associated genes with autism spectrum disorder
Author(s) -
Yuanzhi Zhao,
Cong Zhou,
Hang Yu,
Wenwu Zhang,
Cheng Fang,
Haihang Yu,
Dongsheng Zhou,
Bin Li,
Jing Liu,
Jie Dai,
Jie Zhong,
Min Chen,
Tianyi Huang,
Ranran Pan,
Shiwei Duan,
Zhenyu Hu
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
molecular medicine reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.727
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1791-3004
pISSN - 1791-2997
DOI - 10.3892/mmr.2018.9473
Subject(s) - methylation , autism , dna methylation , autism spectrum disorder , biology , oncogene , apoptosis , gene , bioinformatics , cell cycle , genetics , medicine , gene expression , psychiatry
Excessive apoptosis hinders the process of brain maturation and is regarded as one of the principal risk factors for the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between the methylation of six apoptosis‑associated genes [transforming growth factor β 1 (TGFB1), BCL2 associated X, apoptosis regulator, insulin like growth factor binding protein 3, protein kinase C β 1, presenilin 2 and C‑C motif chemokine ligand 2] and ASD. Using quantitative methylation‑specific polymerase chain reaction technology, DNA methylation levels were detected in 42 autistic and 26 control subjects. The logistic regression analysis results demonstrated that of the six genes, only TGFB1 was significantly hypomethylated in peripheral blood samples from children with autism compared with control samples (mean percentage of methylated reference, 0.011% vs. 0.019%; age‑adjusted P=0.028). In addition, TGFB1 methylation was identified to be positively associated with the interaction ability score from the Autism Behavior Checklist (r=0.452; P=0.035). These data suggested that decreased TGFB1 methylation may contribute to the development of ASD.