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

Five essential metabolic agents contribute to the genomic methylation homeo stasis which prevents severe hemopoietic, vascular, neurologic, psychologic , and embryologic disorders: they are folic acid, vitamins B-12 and B-6, me thionine 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 b e a disaster, as is treating with folic acid only neurologic disorders asso ciated to pernicious megaloblastic anemia due to vitamin B-12 deficiency. I t thus appears more reasonable and less risky to apply the five factors, th e 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 prescrib ed at enormous doses. The concept of dysmethylation syndrome allows us to introduce some order an d the cautious attitude for treating any problem concerning this complex an d chaotic, metabolic and genomic methylation/demethylation homoestasis regu lation, in which general hypomethylation is usually pathogenic and general DNA-hype rm ethylation usually protective. But the latter may be associated to local dysmethylation, still more risky than the general one. (C) 2001 E ditions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.