A dysmethylation syndrome, bound to folates and/or vitamin B 12 and/or methionine abnormalities? Diagnosis, prevention and treatment considerations

• Published in: Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy Vol. 55; no. 8; pp. 419 - 424
• Main Author: Mathé, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier SAS 01-10-2001
• Subjects: demethylation; dysmethylation; folates; methionine; methylation; selenium; vitamin B 12; vitamin B 6; demethylation; folates; selenium; vitamin B 12; methionine; vitamin B 6; methylation; dysmethylation
• DOI: 10.1016/S0753-3322(01)00094-4
• EISSN: 1950-6007
• ISSN: 0753-3322

Five essential metabolic agents contribute to the genomic methylation homeostasis which prevents severe hemopoietic, vascular, neurologic, psychologic, and embryologic disorders: they are folic acid, vitamins B
12 and B
6, methionine and selenium.
In some diseases expressing the dysmethylation syndrome, one agent only may be deficient and curable. But not applying the right deficient agent may be a disaster, as is treating with folic acid only neurologic disorders associated to pernicious megaloblastic anemia due to vitamin B
12 deficiency.
It thus appears more reasonable and less risky to apply the five factors, the more so with necessary but sufficient feeble doses, where the cost may be much less than that of a single agent as frequently and uselessly prescribed at enormous doses.
The concept of dysmethylation syndrome allows us to introduce some order and the cautious attitude for treating any problem concerning this complex and chaotic, metabolic and genomic methylation/demethylation homoestasis regulation, in which general hypomethylation is usually pathogenic and general DNA-hypermethylation usually protective. But the latter may be associated to local dysmethylation, still more risky than the general one.