Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41039089›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2026

Identification of SENP7 and UTF1/VENTX as new loci influencing clustered protocadherin methylation across blood and brain using a genome-wide association study.

Yunfeng Liu, Maja Vukic, Eilis Hannon, Hailiang Mei, Emma Walker, Lucy Sinke, BIOS Consortium, Jonathan Mill, Lucia Daxinger, Bastiaan T Heijmans

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Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Yunfeng LiuMolecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZC, Leiden, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3089-8862
Maja VukicDepartment of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, 2333 ZC, The Netherlands.
Eilis HannonUniversity of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6840-072X
Hailiang MeiSequencing Analysis Support Core, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Emma WalkerUniversity of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2222-4577
Lucy SinkeMolecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZC, Leiden, The Netherlands.
BIOS Consortium
Jonathan MillUniversity of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1115-3224
Lucia DaxingerDepartment of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, 2333 ZC, The Netherlands.
Bastiaan T HeijmansMolecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZC, Leiden, The Netherlands. b.t.heijmans@lumc.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5918-0534

Funding

RCUK | Medical Research Council (MRC) K013807RCUK | Medical Research Council (MRC) M008924RCUK | Medical Research Council (MRC) W004984
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The epigenetic regulation of clustered protocadherin (cPCDH) genes is tightly linked to their function as specific cell surface barcodes for neural self-nonself discrimination. Differential cPCDH DNA methylation has been implicated in diverse neurological diseases as well as body weight, cancer and aging. However, the unique regulation of cPCDH methylation remains poorly understood. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide association study to evaluate the association of >7 million genetic variants with DNA methylation at 607 cPCDH CpGs measured in whole blood of 3777 individuals and validated findings in prefrontal cortex samples obtained from 523 brain donors. We observed concordant cPCDH methylation patterns in blood and prefrontal cortex, which switched between hypo-, intermediate and hypermethylation over short distances with the former overlapping with the promoter regions of each cPCDH member. Through methylation quantitative trait locus (meQTL) analysis in trans, we first confirmed the broad effect of the candidate gene SMCHD1 on cPCDH methylation in blood and then validated this effect in prefrontal cortex. Through a genome-wide analysis, we next identified the SENP7 and UTF1/VENTX loci to have widespread, subcluster-specific effects on cPCDH methylation in blood and brain. While SENP7 can indirectly affect DNA methylation through the deSUMOylation of the chromatin repressor KAP1, UTF1 and VENTX are two genes involved in embryonic development not previously implicated in epigenetic regulation. Our findings shed new light on the processes involved in cPCDH methylation that may underlie associations with neurological disease.

Indexed as

CadherinsEndopeptidasesNuclear ProteinsAdultBrainCpG IslandsDNA MethylationEpigenesis, GeneticFemaleGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrefrontal CortexPromoter Regions, GeneticProtocadherinsCadherinsEndopeptidasesNuclear ProteinsProtocadherins

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.