The role of DNA Methylation in Epilepsy (Katja Kobow)

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with Katja Kobow from the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen to talk about her work on the role of DNA methylation in Epilepsy.

Katja Kobow started studying the role of Epigenetics in Epilepsy by doing a genome wide Bisulfite-Sequencing screen that revealed a typical DNA methylation signature of epileptic patients versus healthy controls. After these initial results in human patient samples, she switched to an animal model to investigate this further. Now the focus of the Kobow Lab is to look for the same DNA methylation signature in blood samples, using this as a basis for the development of a potential prognostic marker for Epilepsy.

References

• Jablonski, Janos, Lucas Hoffmann, Ingmar Blümcke, Anna Fejtová, Steffen Uebe, Arif B. Ekici, Vadym Gnatkovsky, and Katja Kobow. 2021. “Experimental Epileptogenesis in a Cell Culture Model of Primary Neurons from Rat Brain: A Temporal Multi-Scale Study.” Cells 10(11):3004. doi: 10.3390/cells10113004.

• Jablonski, Janos, Lucas Hoffmann, Ingmar Blümcke, Anna Fejtová, Steffen Uebe, Arif B. Ekici, Vadym Gnatkovsky, and Katja Kobow. 2021. “Experimental Epileptogenesis in a Cell Culture Model of Primary Neurons from Rat Brain: A Temporal Multi-Scale Study.” Cells 10(11):3004. doi: 10.3390/cells10113004.

• Kobow, Katja, Mark Ziemann, Harikrishnan Kaipananickal, Ishant Khurana, Angelika Mühlebner, Martha Feucht, Johannes A. Hainfellner, Thomas Czech, Eleonora Aronica, Tom Pieper, Hans Holthausen, Manfred Kudernatsch, Hajo Hamer, Burkhard S. Kasper, Karl Rössler, Valerio Conti, Renzo Guerrini, Roland Coras, Ingmar Blümcke, Assam El‐Osta, and Antony Kaspi. 2019. “Genomic DNA Methylation Distinguishes Subtypes of Human Focal Cortical Dysplasia.” Epilepsia 60(6):1091–1103. doi: 10.1111/epi.14934.

• Dębski, Konrad J., Asla Pitkanen, Noora Puhakka, Anna M. Bot, Ishant Khurana, Kn Harikrishnan, Mark Ziemann, Antony Kaspi, Assam El-Osta, Katarzyna Lukasiuk, and Katja Kobow. 2016. “Etiology Matters – Genomic DNA Methylation Patterns in Three Rat Models of Acquired Epilepsy.” Scientific Reports 6(1):25668. doi: 10.1038/srep25668.

• Kobow, Katja, Antony Kaspi, K. N. Harikrishnan, Katharina Kiese, Mark Ziemann, Ishant Khurana, Ina Fritzsche, Jan Hauke, Eric Hahnen, Roland Coras, Angelika Mühlebner, Assam El-Osta, and Ingmar Blümcke. 2013. “Deep Sequencing Reveals Increased DNA Methylation in Chronic Rat Epilepsy.” Acta Neuropathologica 126(5):741–56. doi: 10.1007/s00401-013-1168-8.

Related Episodes

• CpG Islands, DNA Methylation, and Disease (Sir Adrian Bird)

• Effects of DNA Methylation on Chromatin Structure and Transcription (Dirk Schübeler)

• Effects of DNA Methylation on Diabetes (Charlotte Ling)

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