Identifying Essential Methylation Patterns and Genes Associated With Stroke

Stroke is a serious lethal factor for human beings, and thus its unique pathogenic factors and underlying molecular mechanisms must be thoroughly investigated. Current complicated examination and treatment approaches on stroke reflect the complicated pathogenesis of stroke, which involves two major pathogenic factors: phenotypic characteristic and genetic background. Stroke occurrences with different symptoms and pathogenic characteristics may be induced by genetic variations. However, epigenetic contribution and regulation on stroke pathogenesis have been neglected for a long time and thus environmental influence on stroke onset is often underestimated. In this study, relied on our newly presented computational method, we re-screened out the genome methylation data of stroke patients with different subtypes and identified a group of functional methylated or demethylated genes. Recent reports validated the abnormal methylation status of the all identified genes in the pathogenesis of stroke. The genes were associated with biological functions involved in stroke onset. Further functional enrichment analysis confirmed and summarized the novel specific pathogenic roles of ion binding and focal adhesion in the regulation of stroke at the methylation level.