Title:Alzheimer’s Disorder: Epigenetic Connection and Associated Risk Factors
Volume: 18
Issue: 8
Author(s): Vivek Kumar Sharma, Vineet Mehta and Thakur Gurjeet Singh*
Affiliation:
- Chitkara College of Pharmacy, Chitkara University, Punjab,India
Keywords:
Alzheimer`s disease, epigenetics, amyloid β, DNA methylation, histone, non coding RNA.
Abstract: The gene based therapeutics and drug targets have shown incredible and appreciable
advances in alleviating human sufferings and complexities. Epigenetics simply means above genetics
or which controls the organism beyond genetics. At present it is very clear that all characteristics
of an individual are not determined by DNA alone, rather the environment, stress, life style and
nutrition play a vital part in determining the response of an organism. Thus, nature (genetic
makeup) and nurture (exposure) play equally important roles in the responses observed, both at the
cellular and organism levels. Epigenetics influence plethora of complications at cellular and molecular
levels that includes cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular complications including neurological
(psychosis) and neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease etc.). The
epigenetic mechanisms include DNA methylation, histone modification and non coding RNA
which have substantial impact on progression and pathways linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The
epigenetic mechanism gets deregulated in Alzheimer’s disease and is characterized by DNA hyper
methylation, deacetylation of histones and general repressed chromatin state which alter gene expression
at the transcription level by upregulation, downregulation or silencing of genes. Thus, the
processes or modulators of these epigenetic processes have shown vast potential as a therapeutic
target in Alzheimer’s disease.