精神分裂症的外周血细胞表观遗传学研究

Epigenetic studies on peripheral blood cells in schizophrenia

精神分裂症的发病机制复杂,传统遗传学研究一直没有突破性进展,近年来表观遗传学研究发现,诸如基因的异常甲基化及DNA甲基化通路的异常变化与该病的发生发展密切相关。但仅通过尸检研究人脑组织内表观遗传变化具有明显的局限性,新近一系列研究试图探寻精神分裂症患者外周血细胞内的表观遗传学改变,为精神分裂症研究提供新的方向。

The exact pathogenesis of schizophrenia is still unknown after the exploration through genetic methods. But the recent findings showed that the epigenetic changes were related to the occurrence and development of the disease, such as the abnormal gene methylation and the changes of DNA methylation pathway. To overcome the limitations offered by epigenetic studies in brain, recent studies tried to find the epigenetic alterations in peripheral blood cells in schizophrenic patients.