DNA (cytosine-5) methyltransferase inhibitors: a potential therapeutic agent for schizophrenia.

In this issue of Molecular Pharmacology, Kundakovic et al. (p. 644) present compelling evidence suggesting that the promoters for reelin and GAD67 are coordinately regulated. The regulation occurs at the level of DNA (cytosine-5) methylation. Moreover, the authors present evidence suggesting that pharmacologic inhibition of DNA methyltransferase results in reversal of methylation, loss of methyl-DNA binding proteins and relief of repression. Repression of both reelin and GAD67 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Therefore, these results suggest that the reelin and GAD67 promoters are subject to continuous repression by DNA methyltransferase and that inhibitors of DNA methyltransferase represent a potential treatment for Schizophrenia.