The following is a summary of “Transcriptomic analysis reveals associations of blood-based A-to-I editing with Parkinson’s disease,” published in the October 2023 issue of Neurology by Li et al.
Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing, a common type of RNA editing in humans, plays an unknown role in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Researchers started a retrospective study to explore the link between A-to-I editing and PD and to assess whether changes in A-to-I editing were associated with cognitive decline in PD.
They utilized RNA-seq data from 380 PD patients and 178 healthy controls within the Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative cohort to quantify A-to-I editing sites. Cis-RNA editing quantitative trait loci analysis and a two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) study were conducted by integrating genome-wide association studies to deduce the potential causality between A-to-I editing and PD pathogenesis. The potential causal A-to-I editing sites received further confirmation through Summary-data-based MR analysis. Spearman’s correlation analyzed the connection between A-to-I editing over time and cognitive progression in PD patients.
The results showed 17 potential causal A-to-I editing sites associated with PD. These findings suggested genetic risk variants could influence PD via A-to-I editing. Notably, these A-to-I editing sites were within the NCOR1, KANSL1, and BST1 genes. Additionally, 57 sites exhibited correlations between their longitudinal A-to-I editing levels and cognitive progression in individuals with PD.
Investigators concluded that A-to-I editing may cause Parkinson’s disease and its progression to cognitive decline.
Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00415-023-12053-x
