Roles of different methylation modifications in cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease remains the foremost contributor to mortality and disability globally, even with significant advancements in prevention, diagnosis, and early intervention. A comprehensive insight into cardiovascular diseases and the intrinsic molecular mechanisms is critical to innovating more effective therapeutic interventions for prevention and therapy. Latest advancements within the realm of epigenetic modulation, especially methylation modification, of gene expression have corroborated the impacts of epigenetic modifications in governing the pathogenesis and progression of cardiovascular diseases and suggested the viability of epigenetic mechanisms as emerging targets for the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. In this review, we first provide a brief overview of the biological processes of methylation modifications, including DNA methylation, protein methylation, and RNA N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification. We then summarize their roles in cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, ischemic heart disease, and atherosclerosis.