A promising era for epigenetic research: revealing the molecular signature of neuropsychiatric disorders

Cognitive impairment in psychiatric diseases: Biomarkers of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

“…Previous studies have reported that hypermethylation of the promoters of candidate genes expressed in cognitively related gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurons in SCZ is associated with transcriptional downregulation of corresponding mRNA, including glutamate decarboxylase 67 (GAD67/GAD1) and reelin (RELN) ( Chen et al, 2002 ; Dong et al, 2005 ). Other common methylation candidate genes, include Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), dopamine receptor, and serotonin receptor ( Viola and Fries, 2019 ). The COMT gene encodes Catechol- O -methyltransferase, which affects prefrontal dopamine levels and cognitive symptoms in SCZ ( Ehlis et al, 2007 ).…”