Research overview
The text below is the source article’s original abstract under a verified reuse license. cc by
Here, we conduct a large meta-analysis of DNA methylation across multiple cortical brain regions, in relation to increasing burden of Lewy body pathology. Utilizing a dataset of 1205 samples (832 unique donors), we identify 24 false discovery rate significant differentially methylated loci associated with Lewy body pathology, with loci located in UBASH3B and PTAFR, and an intergenic locus passing the genome-wide significance threshold. Ontological enrichment analysis highlights several neurologically relevant traits, including synaptic alterations. We compare methylation signatures between neurodegenerative pathologies and highlight a shared epigenetic profile across Lewy body, Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases, although the top-ranked loci show disease specificity. Utilizing summary statistics from large-scale genome-wide association studies, we identify significant enrichment of DNA methylation differences with respect to increasing Lewy body pathology in the SNCA genomic region. We also identify specific relationships between genetic risk variants for Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease to methylation quantitative trait loci in the SNCA 5' region and expression of alternative transcript isoforms.
Scientific assessment
Research question
Assess the question within the original study’s scope.
Methods & sample
Check the source article for study design and sample details.
Key findings
An editorially approved findings summary is not yet published for this record.
Limitations
Generalizability, bias and clinical meaning require separate assessment.
Methods, samples and clinical conclusions are not inferred from bibliographic metadata.