Aim: To investigate DDR1 methylation in the brains of bipolar disorder (BD) patients and its association with DDR1 mRNA levels and comethylation with myelin genes. Materials & methods: Genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation (Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip) corrected for glial composition and DDR1 gene expression analysis in the occipital cortices of individuals with BD (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 15) were conducted. Results:DDR1 5-methylcytosine levels were increased and directly associated with DDR1b mRNA expression in the brains of BD patients. We also observed that DDR1 was comethylated with a group of myelin genes. Conclusion:DDR1 is hypermethylated in BD brain tissue and is associated with isoform expression. Additionally, DDR1 comethylation with myelin genes supports the role of this receptor in myelination.
Keywords: bipolar disorder; discoidin domain receptor 1; gene expression; human brain; methylation; myelin genes.