Increased blood COASY DNA methylation levels a potential biomarker for early pathology of Alzheimer’s disease

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 12217
• Main Authors: Kobayashi, Nobuyuki, Shinagawa, Shunichiro, Niimura, Hidehito, Kida, Hisashi, Nagata, Tomoyuki, Tagai, Kenji, Shimada, Kazuya, Oka, Naomi, Shikimoto, Ryo, Noda, Yoshihiro, Nakajima, Shinichiro, Mimura, Masaru, Shigeta, Masahiro, Kondo, Kazuhiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.07.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/208/176/1988; 692/308/53/2423; 692/699/375/132/1283; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - complications; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - genetics; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer's disease; Apolipoproteins E - genetics; Area Under Curve; Base Sequence; Biomarkers - blood; Biometrics; Blood; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - complications; Case-Control Studies; Coenzyme A; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis; Cognitive Dysfunction - genetics; Cognitive Dysfunction - pathology; Dementia; Dementia disorders; Dementia, Vascular - complications; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Disease; DNA; DNA Methylation; Female; Genotype; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Male; multidisciplinary; Neurodegeneration; Neurodegenerative diseases; Promoter Regions, Genetic; ROC Curve; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Severity of Illness Index; Transferases - blood; Transferases - chemistry; Transferases - genetics; Vascular dementia
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-69248-9

Early diagnosis of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an urgent medical and welfare issue. However, to date, no simple biometrics have been available. We reported that blood DNA methylation levels of the COASY gene, which encodes coenzyme A synthase, were increased in individuals with AD and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The present study sought to replicate these findings with larger numbers of samples. Another objective was to clarify whether COASY methylation is associated with neurodegeneration through a comparison of AD, AD with cardiovascular disease (CVD), and vascular dementia (VaD). We measured blood COASY methylation levels in normal controls (NCs) ( n  = 200), and individuals with aMCI ( n  = 22), AD ( n  = 151), and VaD ( n  = 21). Compared with NCs, they were significantly higher in individuals with aMCI and AD. Further, they were significantly higher in AD patients without cardiovascular diseases compared to AD patients with them. These findings suggest that COASY methylation levels may be related to neurodegeneration in AD.