Epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression regulation in neurological diseases

Neurological diseases are a heterogenous group of disorders that are related to alterations in nervous system function. The genetic background of neurological diseases is heterogenous and may include chromosomal aberrations, specific gene mutations and epigenetic defects. This review is aimed at presenting of selected diseases that are associated with different epigenetic alterations. The imprinting defects on chromosome 15 are the cause of Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes that both are characterized by intellectual disability, developmental delay and specific behavioral phenotype. Besides the imprinting defect, these diseases can also be caused by deletion of chromosome 15 or uniparental disomy. Aberrant epigenetic regulation is also specific for Fragile X syndrome that is caused by expansion of CGG repeats in the FMR1 gene that leads to global methylation of the promoter region and repression of FMR1 transcription. A number of neurological diseases, mainly associated with intellectual impairment, may be caused by mutations in genes encoding proteins involved in epigenetic regulation. The number of such diseases is rapidly growing thanks to the implementation of genomic sequencing for the identification of their molecular causes. One of the best known diseases linked to defects in epigenetic modifiers is Rett syndrome caused by a mutation in the MECP2 gene or its variant – Rett-like syndrome caused by a mutation in CDKL5 or FOXG1 genes. As the epigenetic signature is potentially reversible, much attention is focused on possible therapies with drugs that influence DNA or histone modifications. This is especially important in the case of neurological disorders in which epigenetic changes are observed as the effect of the disease.