Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2023, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (2): 331-332.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.343898

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A perspective on causality assessment in epigenetic research on neurodegenerative disorders

Philippos Koulousakis#, Assia Tiane#, Niels Hellings, Jos Prickaerts, Daniel van den Hove*, Tim Vanmierlo*   

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands (Koulousakis P, Tiane A, Prickaerts J, van den Hove D, Vanmierlo T)
    Department of Neuroscience, Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium (Koulousakis P, Tiane A, Vanmierlo T)
    University MS Center (UMSC) Hasselt-Pelt, Hasselt, Belgium (Tiane A, Hellings N, Vanmierlo T)
    Department of Immunology and Infection, Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium (Hellings N)
    Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany (van den Hove D)
  • Online:2023-02-15 Published:2022-08-06
  • Contact: Daniel van den Hove, PhD, d.vandenhove@maastrichtuniversity.nl; Tim Vanmierlo, PhD, tim.vanmierlo@uhasselt.be.
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by FWO research project G042121N, FWO-SB project 1S25119N, tUL PhD grant, and Alzheimer Netherlands (AN) Major Award (#NL-18026).

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Abstract: Epigenetics refers to heritable and reversible processes regulating gene expression that do not involve a change to the DNA sequence. Epigenetic modifications include DNA modifications (e.g. DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation), histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs such as micro RNAs and long-coding RNAs (Holtzman and Gersbach, 2018). Amongst others, epigenetic mechanisms play a vital role in cell proliferation and development, to ensure the correct genes are being expressed in a differentiating cell type. However, epigenetic mechanisms are also influenced by environmental cues, where they are subject to change during life, and may even mediate transgenerational inheritance (John and Rougeulle, 2018). In the last decades, research on epigenetics has expanded to study the role of these mechanisms in a plethora of diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders (Lardenoije et al., 2018).