Fig. 1

Human Alzheimer’s disease brains undergo distinct changes in DNA methylation including at the CASP4 locus. A Numbers of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) identified by RRBS when comparing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains to non-dementia (ND) brains. B–C Top GO biologic processes and enriched genes with hypomethylated (B) or hypermethylated (C) DMRs. D Average CpG methylation in temporal lobes of human Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and non-dementia (ND) controls for CASP4 differentially methylated region (DMR). Selected DMR is located ~ 50 base pair upstream of the CASP4 transcription start site. Unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction (N = 3 individual brain samples). *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001. E Relative copy number (RCN) of CASP4 and CASP5 in temporal lobes of human AD and non-dementia controls determined by RT-PCR. Unpaired t-test (N = 8). F Immunoblot of CASP4 in temporal lobes of human AD and no disease (ND) controls. G Densitometry of CASP4 relative to GAPDH above background for immunoblots in F. Unpaired t-test (N = 12)