Pyrosequencing analysis of SNCA methylation levels in leukocytes from Parkinson's disease patients

•We established pyrosequencing assays examining DNA methylation of SNCA intron 1.•It is useful to study the epigenetic regulation of α-synuclein and PD biomarkers.•No difference in DNA methylation between PD and control leukocytes was identified.

DNA methylation of a CpG island located in intron 1 of the α-synuclein gene (SNCA) has been reported to play an essential role in the regulation of α-synuclein transcription, and probably has a close association with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, there is no simple and cost effective method to quantify DNA methylation in this region. Additionally, whether this CpG island is hypomethylated in peripheral blood in PD and can be used as PD biomarker is still under debate. In the present study, we developed a set of bisulfite pyrosequencing assays which can be used to examine the DNA methylation level of 13 CpG sites in intron 1 of SNCA. We compared DNA methylation levels at these sites in leukocytes from 50 PD patients and 50 healthy controls. Our results indicated that there were no significant differences in DNA methylation between PD patients and controls.