UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

CACNA1C hypermethylation is associated with bipolar disorder

Starnawska, A; Demontis, D; Pen, A; Hedemand, A; Nielsen, AL; Staunstrup, NH; Grove, J; ... Nyegaard, M; + view all (2016) CACNA1C hypermethylation is associated with bipolar disorder. Translational Psychiatry , 6 (6) , Article e831. 10.1038/tp.2016.99. Green open access

[thumbnail of CACNA1C hypermethylation is associated with bipolar disorder.pdf]
Preview
Text
CACNA1C hypermethylation is associated with bipolar disorder.pdf - Published Version

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

The CACNA1C gene, encoding a subunit of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel is one of the best-supported susceptibility genes for bipolar disorder (BD). Genome-wide association studies have identified a cluster of non-coding single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in intron 3 to be highly associated with BD and schizophrenia. The mechanism by which these SNPs confer risk of BD appears to be through an altered regulation of CACNA1C expression. The role of CACNA1C DNA methylation in BD has not yet been addressed. The aim of this study was to investigate if CACNA1C DNA methylation is altered in BD. First, the methylation status of five CpG islands (CGIs) across CACNA1C in blood from BD subjects (n=40) and healthy controls (n=38) was determined. Four islands were almost completely methylated or completely unmethylated, while one island (CGI 3) in intron 3 displayed intermediate methylation levels. In the main analysis, the methylation status of CGI 3 was analyzed in a larger sample of BD subjects (n=582) and control individuals (n=319). Out of six CpG sites that were investigated, five sites showed significant hypermethylation in cases (lowest P=1.16 × 10(-7) for CpG35). Nearby SNPs were found to influence the methylation level, and we identified rs2238056 in intron 3 as the strongest methylation quantitative trait locus (P=2.6 × 10(-7)) for CpG35. In addition, we found an increased methylation in females, and no difference between bipolar I and II. In conclusion, we find that CACNA1C methylation is associated with BD and suggest that the regulatory effect of the non-coding risk variants involves a shift in DNA methylation.

Type: Article
Title: CACNA1C hypermethylation is associated with bipolar disorder
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/tp.2016.99
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2016.99
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1508440
Downloads since deposit
95Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item