Different epigenetic alterations are associated with abnormal IGF2/Igf2 upregulation in neural tube defects.

ABSTRACT: The methylation status of DNA methylation regions (DMRs) of the imprinted gene IGF2/Igf2 is associated with neural tube defects (NTDs), which are caused by a failure of the neural tube to fold and close and are the second-most common birth defect; however, the characterization of the expression level of IGF2/Igf2 in neural tissue from human fetuses affected with NTDs remains elusive. More importantly, whether abnormal chromatin structure also influences IGF2/Igf2 expression in NTDs is unclear. Here, we investigated the transcriptional activity of IGF2/Igf2 in normal and NTD spinal cord tissues, the methylation status of different DMRs, and the chromatin structure of the promoter. Our data indicated that in NTD samples from both human fetuses and retinoic acid (RA)-treated mouse fetuses, th

SUBMITTER: Bai B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4244157 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature