TY - JOUR
PY - 2017//
TI - DNA methylation: basic biology and application to traumatic brain injury
JO - Journal of neurotrauma
A1 - Mateen, Bilal Akhter
A1 - Hill, Ciaran Scott
A1 - Biddie, Simon C.
A1 - Menon, David
SP - 2379
EP - 2388
VL - 34
IS - 16
N2 - This article reviews the literature pertinent to epigenetic changes, and in particular DNA methylation following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). TBI is a heterogeneous disease that is a major cause of death and long-term disability. The links between TBI and epigenetics, the process by which environmental factors alter gene expression without changing the underlying DNA sequence, is an expanding area of research that may have profound consequences for our understanding of the disease, and clinical care. There are various epigenetic changes that may occur as a direct result of TBI, including DNA methylation, histone modification, and changes in the levels of non-coding RNA. This review focuses on DNA methylation, its potential to alter the degree of injury, and the extent of recovery- including development of post-traumatic neurodegeneration, response to therapies, and the hereditable consequences of injury. The functional consequences of non-coding RNA and histone modifications are well described in the literature, but the mechanism by which these three mechanisms interact are often overlooked. Here, we briefly describe the interaction of DNA methylation with the two other key epigenetic changes, and highlight key work being done to understand the functional relevance of those mechanisms. The field of epigenetics is rapidly advancing due to the advent of less invasive and more versatile methods for measuring epigenetic proteins and their functional impact on cells, however, the evidence specific to TBI is limited. This review identifies several important outstanding questions that remain from the work already conducted, and highlights directions for the future. Language: en
LA - en
SN - 0897-7151
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/neu.2017.5007
ID - ref1
ER -