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Fibromyalgia (FM), is characterized by chronic widespread pain, fatigue and cognitive/mood disturbances, and leads to reduced workplace productivity and increased health care/disability expenses. To determine if acquired epigenetic/genetic changes are associated with FM, we compared the frequency of spontaneously occurring micronuclei (MN) and genome-wide methylation patterns in women with FM (N = 10) to those seen in comparably aged healthy controls (N = 42 [MN]; N = 8 [methylation]). The mean MN frequency of women with FM (51.4 + 21.9) was significantly higher than that of the controls (15.8 ± 8.5) (χ2 =45.552; df = 1; p = 1.49 × 10−11). Significant differences (N = 69 sites) in methylation patterns were also observed between cohorts. The majority of the differentially methylated (DM) sites (91%) were attributable to increased values in the women having FM. The DM included significant biological clusters involved in neuron differentiation/nervous system development, skeletal/organ system development, and chromatin compaction. Genes associated with DM sites whose function has particular relevance to FM included (but are not limited to) BDNF, NAT15, HDAC4, PRKCA, RTN1, and PRKG1. These results support the need for future research to further examine the potential biological pathway of epigenetic and acquired chromosomal alterations as a correlate, or possible biological mechanism, leading to/resulting from FM. |
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