ArticleJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2021
Blood DNA Methylation Levels in the WNT5A Gene Promoter Region: A Potential Biomarker for Agitation in Subjects with Dementia.
Article in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Toward Precision Neuropsychiatry of Dementia: Neuropsychiatric Symptoms as Multidimensional Clinical Phenotypes.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2026Review
- Development and performance evaluation of TaqMan real-time fluorescence quantitative methylation specific PCR for detecting methylation level of PER2.Molecular biology reports · 2022Article
- Physician-Assisted Suicide in Dementia: Paradoxes, Pitfalls and the Need for Prudence.Frontiers in sociology · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBehavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) cause a heavy burden for both patient and caregivers. These symptoms are diverse, and their mechanism is still unclear. Agitation is the most common and difficult to treat among BPSD. In recent years, while changes in DNA methylation levels have been receiving attention as a biomarker of aging and dementia, associations with BPSD have not been examined.
objectiveFocusing on agitation, the objective of the present study was to identify a region where changes in DNA methylation levels are associated with agitation.
methodsUsing genome-wide DNA methylation analysis data for 7 dementia subjects with agitation, 5 dementia subjects without agitation, and 4 normal elderly controls, we determined a signaling pathway in the WNT5A gene promoter region to be associated with agitation. Based on this result, we measured DNA methylation levels in this region for 26 dementia subjects with agitation and 82 dementia subjects without agitation by means of methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting (MS-HRM) analysis.
resultsThe WNT5A DNA methylation level in dementia subjects with agitation was significantly lower than in those without agitation (p = 0.001). Changes in WNT5A DNA methylation levels were not influenced by age, sex, body mass index, APOE ɛ4, medication, or inflammatory cytokines.
conclusionOur results suggested an association of agitation with Wnt signaling, in particular with changes in WNT5A DNA methylation levels, which could be a potentially useful biomarker for predicting the appearance of agitation. It may contribute to the elucidation of the mechanism of BPSD.
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