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. 2014 Feb 19;9(2):e89128.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089128. eCollection 2014.

Male-specific association between dopamine receptor D4 gene methylation and schizophrenia

Jia Cheng  1 , Yunliang Wang  2 , Kena Zhou  3 , Lingyan Wang  4 , Jinfeng Li  2 , Qidong Zhuang  3 , Xuting Xu  3 , Leiting Xu  3 , Kai Zhang  3 , Dongjun Dai  3 , Rongjiong Zheng  3 , Guangxue Li  1 , Aiping Zhang  5 , Shugui Gao  6 , Shiwei Duan  3
Affiliations

Male-specific association between dopamine receptor D4 gene methylation and schizophrenia

Jia Cheng et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: The goal of our study was to investigate whether DRD4 gene DNA methylation played an important role in the susceptibility of Han Chinese SCZ.

Methods: Using the bisulphite pyrosequencing technology, DNA methylation levels of 6 CpG dinucleotides in DRD4 CpG island were measured among 30 paranoid SCZ patients, 30 undifferentiated SCZ patients, and 30 age- and gender-matched healthy controls.

Results: Strong correlation was observed among the six CpG sites (r>0.5, P<0.01), thus average methylation levels were applied thereafter. Our results indicated that there was a significant association between DRD4 methylation and the risk of SCZ (P = 0.003), although there was no significant difference in DRD4 methylation between the two SCZ subtypes (P = 0.670). A breakdown analysis by gender showed that the significant association of DRD4 methylation and SCZ was driven by males (P<0.001) but not by females (P = 0.835). DRD4 methylation was significantly associated with p300 in male SCZ patients (r = -0.543, P = 0.005) but not in female SCZ patients (r = 0.110, P = 0.599). Moreover, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed DRD4 methylation was able to predict the status of SCZ in males [area under curve (AUC) = 0.832, P = 0.002] but not in females (AUC = 0.483, P = 0.876). Finally, a further expression experiment showed that DRD4 methylation in the gene body was positively associated with gene expression, although the exact mechanism of gene regulation remained unknown for this interesting DRD4 methylation.

Conclusion: The gender disparity in the DRD4 DNA methylation provides novel insights into the pathogenesis of SCZ.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Significant methylation correlation of 6 CpG sites on DRD4 CpG islandsa.
a: The hg19 version from UCSC genome browser was used for the genomic positions.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Male specific association of DRD4 methylation with the susceptibility of SCZ.
Figure 3
Figure 3. No influence of smoking was found on DRD4 methylation in male SCZ subjects.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Male specific correlation between DRD4 methylation and p300 in SCZ patients.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Male specific prediction of SCZ using DRD4 methylation as a diagnostic marker.
Figure 6
Figure 6. DRD4 methylation levels in male SCZ patients between before and after risperidone therapy.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Correlation of DRD4 methylation levels with DRD4 gene expression in the healthy males.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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