No Association of the Variant rs11887120 in DNMT3A with Cognitive Decline in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Alterations in DNA methylation have been associated with cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. A recent study of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) reported a significant association between annual decline in cognitive function and the rs11887120 SNP located in DNMT3A, a gene implicated in DNA methylation. Here, we aimed to replicate this finding in two independent MCI cohorts (n = 1024); however, no significant association was observed in either cohort or the pooled dataset. In stratified analyses for conversion to Alzheimer’s disease status, no association between rs11887120 and cognitive decline was observed in either converters or nonconverters. In conclusion, our analyses provide no support for the hypothesis that genetic variants in DNMT3A are implicated in cognitive performance decline in individuals with MCI.

Keywords::

• aging
• Alzheimer’s disease
• cognitive decline
• DNA methylation
• DNA methyltransferase 3a
• DNMT3A
• epigenetics
• MCI
• mild cognitive impairment
• rs11887120

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2217/epi-2015-0014

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

During the review process, this manuscript was edited by the company Bioedit. Editing was funded using the internal budget from the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Bonn.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.