Early oligodendrocyte dysfunction signature in Alzheimer’s disease: Insights from DNA methylomics and transcriptomics

Much research into the aetiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has focused on neuronal cell types, while studies on the contribution of glial cells, particularly oligodendrocytes (OLGs), are only starting to emerge. Altered brain DNA methylation, an epigenetic modification that provides the interplay between genetics and environmental cues to tightly regulate gene expression, is well documented in AD. Yet, cell-type-specific investigations remain limited. Here, we examine the role of DNA methylation and OLGs in AD, and how such changes may impact gene expression. We performed weighted-gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) on multiple brain omics AD datasets across species: human DNA methylation data from 4 brain regions, human brain single-nuclei RNA sequencing data and mouse brain RNA sequencing data. We compared AD-associated network modules enriched for OLG genes across AD brain regions, as well as with other neurodegenerative disease DNA methylation datasets. We identified a DNA methylation signature associated with AD, enriched for OLGs, and preserved across brain regions representing early and late AD pathology stages. Genes within this signature showed altered expression in AD OLGs, confirming cell-type specificity and relevance to AD. This OLG signature was also preserved in transgenic mice with early Aβ pathology and in other neurodegenerative diseases without Aβ pathology. We reveal a consistent pattern of OLG dysfunction spanning early to late stages of AD, across DNA methylation and gene expression. Our findings highlight OLG-associated DNA methylation changes as important in AD pathogenesis, and possibly in other neurodegenerative diseases, opening new avenues for therapeutic development.