Potential treatments for epigenetic dysregulation in neurological diseases

Abstract

Epigenetics is of great importance to modern neuroscience because of its link to the etiology of certain neurodegenerative diseases. The roles of epigenetic changes like DNA methylation and histone acetylation in transcriptional control and dysregulation have been extensively investigated. DNA hypo methylation in Alzheimer's disease leads to elevated presenilin 1 expression, which in turn increases amyloid beta peptide deposition. Increased -synuclein expression and accumulated SNCA protein are hallmarks of Parkinson's disease, which is caused by aberrant methylation. Mutant Huntingtin causes transcriptional dysregulations in Huntington's disease by inhibiting histone acetyltransferases. This project paper reviews on the topic of epigenetics and neurodegeneration and discuss the role that how epigenetic dysregulation plays in the onset of these diseases and offer some insight into the therapeutic potential of epigenetics-based approaches.