Epigenetic profiles associated with major depression in the human brain

Psychiatry Res. 2018 Feb:260:439-442. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2017.12.010. Epub 2017 Dec 14.

Abstract

We conducted an epigenome-wide association study of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in brain-derived DNA using two analytic approaches. DNA methylation data (GSE41826) was used in differential methylation (DM) analyses controlling for age, sex, suicide status, and post-mortem interval; and in weighted gene co-methylation network analyses (WGCNA) in probes mapping to transcription start sites. No probes in the DM analysis survived FDR correction. Nominally significant DM probes were enriched in synaptic function-related genes. WGCNA revealed one module correlated with MDD, enriched in genes associated with mitochondrial function. DM and WGCNA both showed enrichment of genes involved in transcription and DNA binding.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Brain / pathology
  • Brain / physiology*
  • DNA Methylation / genetics*
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / genetics*
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / pathology
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / psychology
  • Epigenesis, Genetic / genetics*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods*
  • Gene Regulatory Networks / genetics
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Suicide / psychology