JOURNAL OF SHANGHAI JIAOTONG UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCIENCE) ›› 2021, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (2): 267-272.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8115.2021.02.023

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research progress in epigenetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder

Liang-jun LIN(), Wei-di WANG, Pei WANG, Guan-ning LIN, Zhen WANG()   

  1. Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
  • Received:2020-04-17 Online:2021-02-28 Published:2021-02-28
  • Contact: Zhen WANG E-mail:lj-lin@sjtu.edu.cn;wangzhen@smhc.org.cn
  • Supported by:
    Outstanding Academic Leaders of Shanghai Health and Family Planning System(2017BR058);Shanghai Municipal Education Commission—Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant Support(20161321)

Abstract:

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a high disabling psychiatric disease, with unknown etiology. Many studies have shown that the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder is associated with both genes and the environment. Epigenetics has provided an approach to explaining the influence on individual inheritance caused by environmental factors. Nowadays, several types of research have proved that there are differences in DNA methylation between obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and healthy population, and the DNA methylation may be strongly related to treatment response. Additionally, an increased level of microRNA was found in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. This review summaries the studies of epigenetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder and concludes the possible changes in epigenetic modifications to further understand the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Key words: obsessive-compulsive disorder, epigenetics, genetics, DNA methylation, microRNA

CLC Number: