@article {7349, title = {DNA methylation signatures of chronic low-grade inflammation are associated with complex diseases.}, journal = {Genome Biol}, volume = {17}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Dec 12}, pages = {255}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Chronic low-grade inflammation reflects a subclinical immune response implicated in the pathogenesis of complex diseases. Identifying genetic loci where DNA methylation is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation may reveal novel pathways or therapeutic targets for inflammation.

RESULTS: We performed a meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of serum C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a sensitive marker of low-grade inflammation, in a large European population (n = 8863) and trans-ethnic replication in African Americans (n = 4111). We found differential methylation at 218 CpG sites to be associated with CRP (P < 1.15 {\texttimes} 10(-7)) in the discovery panel of European ancestry and replicated (P < 2.29 {\texttimes} 10(-4)) 58 CpG sites (45 unique loci) among African Americans. To further characterize the molecular and clinical relevance of the findings, we examined the association with gene expression, genetic sequence variants, and clinical outcomes. DNA methylation at nine (16\%) CpG sites was associated with whole blood gene expression in cis (P < 8.47 {\texttimes} 10(-5)), ten (17\%) CpG sites were associated with a nearby genetic variant (P < 2.50 {\texttimes} 10(-3)), and 51 (88\%) were also associated with at least one related cardiometabolic entity (P < 9.58 {\texttimes} 10(-5)). An additive weighted score of replicated CpG sites accounted for up to 6\% inter-individual variation (R2) of age-adjusted and sex-adjusted CRP, independent of known CRP-related genetic variants.

CONCLUSION: We have completed an EWAS of chronic low-grade inflammation and identified many novel genetic loci underlying inflammation that may serve as targets for the development of novel therapeutic interventions for inflammation.

}, issn = {1474-760X}, doi = {10.1186/s13059-016-1119-5}, author = {Ligthart, Symen and Marzi, Carola and Aslibekyan, Stella and Mendelson, Michael M and Conneely, Karen N and Tanaka, Toshiko and Colicino, Elena and Waite, Lindsay L and Joehanes, Roby and Guan, Weihua and Brody, Jennifer A and Elks, Cathy and Marioni, Riccardo and Jhun, Min A and Agha, Golareh and Bressler, Jan and Ward-Caviness, Cavin K and Chen, Brian H and Huan, Tianxiao and Bakulski, Kelly and Salfati, Elias L and Fiorito, Giovanni and Wahl, Simone and Schramm, Katharina and Sha, Jin and Hernandez, Dena G and Just, Allan C and Smith, Jennifer A and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Pilling, Luke C and Pankow, James S and Tsao, Phil S and Liu, Chunyu and Zhao, Wei and Guarrera, Simonetta and Michopoulos, Vasiliki J and Smith, Alicia K and Peters, Marjolein J and Melzer, David and Vokonas, Pantel and Fornage, Myriam and Prokisch, Holger and Bis, Joshua C and Chu, Audrey Y and Herder, Christian and Grallert, Harald and Yao, Chen and Shah, Sonia and McRae, Allan F and Lin, Honghuang and Horvath, Steve and Fallin, Daniele and Hofman, Albert and Wareham, Nicholas J and Wiggins, Kerri L and Feinberg, Andrew P and Starr, John M and Visscher, Peter M and Murabito, Joanne M and Kardia, Sharon L R and Absher, Devin M and Binder, Elisabeth B and Singleton, Andrew B and Bandinelli, Stefania and Peters, Annette and Waldenberger, Melanie and Matullo, Giuseppe and Schwartz, Joel D and Demerath, Ellen W and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and van Meurs, Joyce B J and Franco, Oscar H and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Levy, Daniel and Turner, Stephen T and Deary, Ian J and Ressler, Kerry J and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Ferrucci, Luigi and Ong, Ken K and Assimes, Themistocles L and Boerwinkle, Eric and Koenig, Wolfgang and Arnett, Donna K and Baccarelli, Andrea A and Benjamin, Emelia J and Dehghan, Abbas} } @article {8507, title = {Blood Leukocyte DNA Methylation Predicts Risk of Future Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Heart Disease.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {140}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 08 20}, pages = {645-657}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is implicated in coronary heart disease (CHD), but current evidence is based on small, cross-sectional studies. We examined blood DNA methylation in relation to incident CHD across multiple prospective cohorts.

METHODS: Nine population-based cohorts from the United States and Europe profiled epigenome-wide blood leukocyte DNA methylation using the Illumina Infinium 450k microarray, and prospectively ascertained CHD events including coronary insufficiency/unstable angina, recognized myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, and coronary death. Cohorts conducted race-specific analyses adjusted for age, sex, smoking, education, body mass index, blood cell type proportions, and technical variables. We conducted fixed-effect meta-analyses across cohorts.

RESULTS: Among 11 461 individuals (mean age 64 years, 67\% women, 35\% African American) free of CHD at baseline, 1895 developed CHD during a mean follow-up of 11.2 years. Methylation levels at 52 CpG (cytosine-phosphate-guanine) sites were associated with incident CHD or myocardial infarction (false discovery rate<0.05). These CpGs map to genes with key roles in calcium regulation (ATP2B2, CASR, GUCA1B, HPCAL1), and genes identified in genome- and epigenome-wide studies of serum calcium (CASR), serum calcium-related risk of CHD (CASR), coronary artery calcified plaque (PTPRN2), and kidney function (CDH23, HPCAL1), among others. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a causal effect of DNA methylation on incident CHD; these CpGs map to active regulatory regions proximal to long non-coding RNA transcripts.

CONCLUSION: Methylation of blood-derived DNA is associated with risk of future CHD across diverse populations and may serve as an informative tool for gaining further insight on the development of CHD.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Cohort Studies, Coronary Disease, CpG Islands, DNA Methylation, Europe, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Incidence, Leukocytes, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Population Groups, Prognosis, Prospective Studies, Risk, United States}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.039357}, author = {Agha, Golareh and Mendelson, Michael M and Ward-Caviness, Cavin K and Joehanes, Roby and Huan, Tianxiao and Gondalia, Rahul and Salfati, Elias and Brody, Jennifer A and Fiorito, Giovanni and Bressler, Jan and Chen, Brian H and Ligthart, Symen and Guarrera, Simonetta and Colicino, Elena and Just, Allan C and Wahl, Simone and Gieger, Christian and Vandiver, Amy R and Tanaka, Toshiko and Hernandez, Dena G and Pilling, Luke C and Singleton, Andrew B and Sacerdote, Carlotta and Krogh, Vittorio and Panico, Salvatore and Tumino, Rosario and Li, Yun and Zhang, Guosheng and Stewart, James D and Floyd, James S and Wiggins, Kerri L and Rotter, Jerome I and Multhaup, Michael and Bakulski, Kelly and Horvath, Steven and Tsao, Philip S and Absher, Devin M and Vokonas, Pantel and Hirschhorn, Joel and Fallin, M Daniele and Liu, Chunyu and Bandinelli, Stefania and Boerwinkle, Eric and Dehghan, Abbas and Schwartz, Joel D and Psaty, Bruce M and Feinberg, Andrew P and Hou, Lifang and Ferrucci, Luigi and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Matullo, Giuseppe and Peters, Annette and Fornage, Myriam and Assimes, Themistocles L and Whitsel, Eric A and Levy, Daniel and Baccarelli, Andrea A} }