ESOC 2025 | The potential link between DNA methylation patterns and stroke risk
Cristina Gallego-Fabrega, PhD, Sant Pau Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain, discusses the potential link between DNA methylation patterns and the risk of stroke, highlighting that changes in gene transcription may contribute to increased susceptibility. Dr Gallego-Fabrega also notes that epigenomics studies can reveal associations between age, DNA methylation patterns, and stroke risk, as well as mortality and recurrence after a first stroke. This interview took place at the 11th European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) in Helsinki, Finland.
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Transcript
We don’t know yet the exact mechanisms, but we are studying how DNA methylation patterns that are marks on your genome that open or close the ability of the genes to be transcribed. So once we change the transcription of those genes that may mean that we have a higher susceptibility to having a stroke or a subtype of a stroke. And there’s the general realm of epigenomics that we study...
We don’t know yet the exact mechanisms, but we are studying how DNA methylation patterns that are marks on your genome that open or close the ability of the genes to be transcribed. So once we change the transcription of those genes that may mean that we have a higher susceptibility to having a stroke or a subtype of a stroke. And there’s the general realm of epigenomics that we study. Through these epigenomics studies and DNA methylation, we can also explore if a person is older or younger than their expected age because DNA methylation changes throughout your lifespan. So there are specific patterns that associate with age and as we know a stroke is an age-associated disease. We are also able to identify specific DNA methylation patterns and ages that are associated with a higher risk of a stroke or a higher mortality from having a stroke or even new vascular recurrences after having a first stroke.
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