Novel epigenetic loci identified from an epigenome-wide association study underlying brain structural changes in...

DNA methylation influences gene-environment interactions and brain development in bipolar disorder (BD). We aimed to identify BD-associated epigenetic loci and examine their associations with brain structural variation.

We conducted an epigenome-wide association study (BD group, n = 90; healthy controls group, n = 161) to identify BD-associated DNA methylation loci, and we additionally performed copy number alteration and functional enrichment analyses. The correlations between epigenetic loci and cortical thickness (CT) were assessed using Pearson's partial correlation analysis, and the co-methylation effect of the epigenetic loci identified in the neuroimaging-epigenetic analysis was investigated.

A total of 156 differentially methylated positions (DMPs) and 7 differentially methylated regions were identified, and the genes associated with them were observed to be enriched in biological processes related to muscle hypertrophy and neuronal activity. Significant correlations between the methylation levels of 13 DMPs associated with three genes (miR886, PLEC1, and ICAM5) and the CT of the right postcentral gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus were identified. Specifically, 10 DMPs associated with the CpG island in the upstream region of the miR886 gene showed negative correlations with the right postcentral gyrus CT, implicating miR886-associated CpG-island methylation in regional cortical thinning.

Epigenetic changes might play an important role in brain structural changes in BD. These multimodal findings nominate miR886-related methylation as a candidate molecular correlate of cortical thinning and warrant replication and mechanistic follow-up in larger, state-diverse cohorts.