Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. Jan 7, 2019; 10(1): 1-6
Published online Jan 7, 2019. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v10.i1.1
New findings showing how DNA methylation influences diseases
Fabio Sallustio, Loreto Gesualdo, Anna Gallone
Fabio Sallustio, Anna Gallone, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari 70121, Italy
Loreto Gesualdo, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation Unit, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari 70121, Italy
Author contributions: Sallustio F, Gesualdo L and Gallone A conceived the study and drafted the manuscript; All the authors approved the final version of the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interests to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fabio Sallustio, MSc, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Piazza G. Cesare, 11, Bari 70124, Italy. fabio.sallustio@uniba.it
Telephone: +39-80-5478878
Received: September 5, 2018
Peer-review started: September 6, 2018
First decision: September 12, 2018
Revised: October 1, 2018
Accepted: December 5, 2018
Article in press: December 5, 2018
Published online: January 7, 2019
Processing time: 113 Days and 14.2 Hours
Abstract

In 1975, Holliday and Pugh as well as Riggs independently hypothesized that DNA methylation in eukaryotes could act as a hereditary regulation mechanism that influences gene expression and cell differentiation. Interest in the study of epigenetic processes has been inspired by their reversibility as well as their potentially preventable or treatable consequences. Recently, we have begun to understand that the features of DNA methylation are not the same for all cells. Major differences have been found between differentiated cells and stem cells. Methylation influences various pathologies, and it is very important to improve the understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms. Epigenetic modifications may take place throughout life and have been related to cancer, brain aging, memory disturbances, changes in synaptic plasticity, and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease. DNA methylation also has a very important role in tumor biology. Many oncogenes are activated by mutations in carcinogenesis. However, many genes with tumor-suppressor functions are “silenced” by the methylation of CpG sites in some of their regions. Moreover, the role of epigenetic alterations has been demonstrated in neurological diseases. In neuronal precursors, many genes associated with development and differentiation are silenced by CpG methylation. In addition, recent studies show that DNA methylation can also influence diseases that do not appear to be related to the environment, such as IgA nephropathy, thus affecting the expression of some genes involved in the T-cell receptor signaling. In conclusion, DNA methylation provides a whole series of fundamental information for the cell to regulate gene expression, including how and when the genes are read, and it does not depend on the DNA sequence.

Keywords: DNA methylation; Stem cells; Enhancer; IgA nephropathy; Gene regulation

Core tip: DNA methylation in eukaryotes acts as a hereditary regulation mechanism that influences gene expression and cell differentiation. Recently, we have begun to understand that the features of DNA methylation are not the same for all the cells. Major differences have been found between differentiated cells and stem cells. However, epigenetic modifications may take place throughout life and influence various diseases, and they are very important for improving the understanding of pathogenic mechanisms. New studies show that DNA methylation can also influence diseases that do not appear to be related to the environment.