A Higher Dysregulation Burden of Brain DNA Methylation in Female Patients Implicated in the Sex Bias of Schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT: Sex differences are pervasive in schizophrenia (SCZ), but the extent and magnitude of DNA methylation (DNAm) changes underlying these differences remain uncharacterized. In this study, sex-stratified differential DNAm analysis was performed in postmortem brain samples from 117 SCZ and 137 controls, partitioned into discovery and replication datasets. Three differentially methylated positions (DMPs) were identified (adj. p  < 0.05) in females and 29 DMPs in males without overlap between them. Over 81% of these sex-stratified DMPs were directionally consistent between sexes but with different effect sizes. Down-sampling analysis revealed more DMPs in females than in males when the sample sizes matched. Females had higher DNAm levels in healthy individuals and larger magnitude of DNAm

SUBMITTER: Chen C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9915764 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature