1 517 124 ASSOCIATION STUDY OF FOXO3A SINGLE-NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM AND BRONCHIAL ASTHMA IN EGYPTIAN CHILDREN. ASTHMA IS THE MOST COMMON CHRONIC ILLNESS IN CHILDREN AND IS A LEADING CAUSE OF CHILDHOOD HOSPITALIZATION AND SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM. ASTHMA PRESENTS WITH DIFFERENT PHENOTYPES DEPENDING ON AGE, GENDER, GENETIC BACKGROUND, ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES AND EPIGENETIC FACTORS. FORKHEAD BOX O3 (FOXO3) IS A TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR INVOLVED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF A NUMBER OF INFLAMMATORY AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES. THE STUDY AIMS TO INVESTIGATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE SNP RS13217795 IN FOXO3 GENE AND PEDIATRIC ONSET ASTHMA IN THE EGYPTIAN POPULATION. NINETY ASTHMATICS AND 160 HEALTHY CONTROLS WERE SUBJECTED TO GENOTYPING OF FOXO3 SNP (RS13217795) USING THE PCR-RFLP METHOD. THE PROPORTION OF HOMOZYGOUS (CC) AND HETEROZYGOUS (CT) GENOTYPES WAS LOWER IN THE ASTHMATIC GROUP COMPARED TO THE CONTROL GROUP BUT STATISTICALLY INSIGNIFICANT; P > 0.05. ON THE OTHER HAND THE PROPORTION OF THE MUTANT HOMOZYGOUS (TT) GENOTYPE IN ASTHMATIC GROUP WAS HIGHER; 30 (33.3%) THAN THE CONTROL GROUP; 28(17.5%), THE DIFFERENCE WAS SIGNIFICANT IN RECESSIVE MODEL OF DISEASE PENETRANCE WITH ODDS RATIO OR (95% CI) OF 2.4(1 - 5.49) AND P=0.039. THIS ASSOCIATION WAS MORE PRONOUNCED IN MALE GENDER; OR AND 95% CI OF 5.3 (1.4- 19.3) AND P=0.01. IN CONCLUSIONS, EGYPTIAN CHILDREN CARRYING THE MUTANT (TT) GENOTYPE WERE AT HIGHER RISK TO DEVELOP ASTHMA WITH A HIGHER RISK IN MALE GENDER. 2020 2 1607 24 DNA METHYLATION, COLON CANCER AND MEDITERRANEAN DIET: RESULTS FROM THE EPIC-ITALY COHORT. THE BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS THROUGH WHICH ADHERENCE TO MEDITERRANEAN DIET (MD) PROTECTS AGAINST COLON CANCER (CC) ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD. EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT CHRONIC INFLAMMATION MAY BE IMPLICATED IN THE PATHWAY. BOTH DIET AND CC ARE RELATED TO EPIGENETIC REGULATION. WE PERFORMED A NESTED CASE-CONTROL STUDY ON 161 PAIRS FROM THE ITALIAN COMPONENT OF THE EUROPEAN PROSPECTIVE INVESTIGATION INTO CANCER AND NUTRITION (EPIC) COHORT, IN WHICH WE LOOKED FOR THE METHYLATION SIGNALS IN DNA EXTRACTED FROM LEUCOCYTES ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH CC AND MD IN 995 CPGS LOCATED IN 48 INFLAMMATION GENES. THE DNA METHYLATION SIGNALS DETECTED IN THIS ANALYSIS WERE VALIDATED IN A SUBGROUP OF 47 CASE-CONTROL PAIRS AND FURTHER REPLICATED (WHERE VALIDATED) IN 95 NEW PAIRS BY MEANS OF PYROSEQUENCING. AMONG THE CPG SITES SELECTED A-PRIORI IN INFLAMMATION-RELATED GENES, SEVEN CPG SITES WERE FOUND TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH CC STATUS AND WITH MD, IN LINE WITH ITS PROTECTIVE EFFECT. ONLY TWO CPG SITES (CG17968347-SERPINE1 AND CG20674490-RUNX3) WERE VALIDATED USING BISULPHITE PYROSEQUENCING AND, AFTER REPLICATION, WE FOUND THAT DNA METHYLATION OF CG20674490-RUNX3 MAY BE A POTENTIAL MOLECULAR MEDIATOR EXPLAINING THE PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF MD ON CC ONSET. THE USE OF A 'MEET-IN-THE-MIDDLE' APPROACH TO IDENTIFY THE OVERLAP BETWEEN EXPOSURE AND PREDICTIVE MARKERS OF DISEASE IS INNOVATIVE IN STUDIES ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIET AND CANCER, IN WHICH EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT IS DIFFICULT AND THE MECHANISMS THROUGH WHICH THE NUTRIENTS EXERT THEIR PROTECTIVE EFFECT IS LARGELY UNKNOWN. 2019 3 57 34 A GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF QUANTITATIVE COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC EMPHYSEMA IN KOREAN POPULATIONS. EMPHYSEMA IS AN IMPORTANT FEATURE OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD). GENETIC FACTORS LIKELY AFFECT EMPHYSEMA PATHOGENESIS, BUT THIS QUESTION HAS PREDOMINANTLY BEEN STUDIED IN THOSE OF EUROPEAN ANCESTRY. IN THIS STUDY, WE SOUGHT TO DETERMINE GENETIC COMPONENTS OF EMPHYSEMA SEVERITY AND CHARACTERIZE THE POTENTIAL FUNCTION OF THE ASSOCIATED LOCI IN KOREAN POPULATION. WE PERFORMED A GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY (GWAS) ON QUANTITATIVE EMPHYSEMA IN SUBJECTS WITH OR WITHOUT COPD FROM TWO KOREAN COPD COHORTS. WE INVESTIGATED THE FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE LOCI USING EPIGENETIC ANNOTATION AND GENE EXPRESSION DATA. WE ALSO COMPARED OUR GWAS RESULTS WITH AN EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY AND PREVIOUS DIFFERENTIAL GENE EXPRESSION ANALYSIS. IN TOTAL, 548 SUBJECTS (476 [86.9%] MALE) INCLUDING 514 COPD PATIENTS WERE EVALUATED. WE IDENTIFIED ONE GENOME-WIDE SIGNIFICANT SNP (P < 5.0 X 10(-8)), RS117084279, NEAR PIBF1. WE IDENTIFIED AN ADDITIONAL 57 SNPS (P < 5.0 X 10(-6)) ASSOCIATED WITH EMPHYSEMA IN ALL SUBJECTS, AND 106 SNPS (P < 5.0 X 10(-6)) IN COPD PATIENTS. OF THESE CANDIDATE SNPS, 2 (RS12459249, RS11667314) NEAR CYP2A6 WERE EXPRESSION QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI IN LUNG TISSUE AND A SNP (RS11214944) NEAR NNMT WAS AN EXPRESSION QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCUS IN WHOLE BLOOD. OF NOTE, RS11214944 WAS IN LINKAGE DISEQUILIBRIUM WITH VARIANTS IN ENHANCER HISTONE MARKS IN LUNG TISSUE. SEVERAL GENES NEAR ADDITIONAL SNPS WERE IDENTIFIED IN OUR PREVIOUS EWAS STUDY WITH NOMINAL LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE. WE IDENTIFIED A NOVEL SNP ASSOCIATED WITH QUANTITATIVE EMPHYSEMA ON CT. INCLUDING THE NOVEL SNP, SEVERAL CANDIDATE SNPS IN OUR STUDY MAY PROVIDE CLUES TO THE GENETIC ETIOLOGY OF EMPHYSEMA IN ASIAN POPULATIONS. FURTHER RESEARCH AND VALIDATION OF THE LOCI WILL HELP DETERMINE THE GENETIC FACTORS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EMPHYSEMA. 2021 4 5700 36 SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM IN DNMT3B PROMOTER AND THE RISK FOR IDIOPATHIC THROMBOCYTOPENIC PURPURA IN CHINESE POPULATION. OBJECTIVE: EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN GENE EXPRESSION, INCLUDING DNA METHYLATION AND HISTONE MODIFICATIONS, MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO AUTOIMMUNITY. DNA METHYLATION IS MEDIATED BY A FAMILY OF DNA METHYLTRANSFERASES. POLYMORPHISMS OF THE DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE 3B (DNMT3B) GENE MAY INFLUENCE DNMT3B ACTIVITY ON DNA METHYLATION, THEREBY MODULATING THE SUSCEPTIBILITY TO SOME DISEASES. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM (SNP) IN PROMOTER OF THE DNMT3B GENE AND THE RISK FOR DEVELOPMENT OF IDIOPATHIC THROMBOCYTOPENIC PURPURA (ITP). METHODS: IN THIS HOSPITAL-BASED CASE-CONTROL STUDY, THE DNMT3B SNP WAS GENOTYPED IN 201 PATIENTS WITH ITP AND 136 HEALTHY CONTROLS BY POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION-RESTRICTION FRAGMENT LENGTH POLYMORPHISM. RESULTS: THE C/C GENOTYPE WAS NOT DETECTED IN BOTH THE PATIENTS WITH ITP AND THE CONTROLS. IN THE CONTROLS, THE FREQUENCIES OF T/T AND C/T GENOTYPES AND T AND C ALLELES WERE 97.8%, 2.2%, 98.9%, AND 1.1%, RESPECTIVELY. THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN GENOTYPE AND ALLELE DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN THE PATIENTS WITH ITP AND THE CONTROLS (P = 0.745 AND 0.747, RESPECTIVELY). NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE WAS OBSERVED IN GENOTYPE AND ALLELE DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS WHEN STRATIFIED BY THE AGE. THE SIMILAR RESULTS WERE SHOWN AMONG THE FOUR GROUPS OF PATIENTS WITH ITP: ACUTE CHILDHOOD, CHRONIC CHILDHOOD, ACUTE ADULT, AND CHRONIC ADULT. CONCLUSION: THIS POLYMORPHISM WAS DISTRIBUTED SIMILARLY BETWEEN THE PATIENTS WITH ITP AND THE CONTROLS. IT DEMONSTRATED THAT IT MAY NOT BE USED AS A STRATIFICATION MARKER TO PREDICT THE SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ITP, AT LEAST IN THE POPULATION OF NORTH CHINA. 2008 5 505 35 ASSOCIATION OF DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE 3B PROMOTOR POLYMORPHISM WITH CHILDHOOD CHRONIC IMMUNE THROMBOCYTOPENIA. BACKGROUND: DNA METHYLATION IS AN EPIGENETIC PROCESS THAT REFERS TO CHROMATIN-BASED MECHANISMS IN THE REGULATION OF GENE EXPRESSION WITHOUT DNA ALTERNATION. IT IS MEDIATED BY DNA METHYLTRANSFERASES (DNMTS). THE DNA METHYLTRANSFERASE 3B (DNMT3B) GENE CONTAINS A C-TO-T SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM (SNP; RS2424913) IN THE PROMOTOR REGION, 149 BASE PAIRS FROM THE TRANSCRIPTION START SITE, WHICH IS REPORTED TO SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE PROMOTOR ACTIVITY. OBJECTIVE: TO INVESTIGATE THE PREVALANCE OF RS2424913 SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM LOCATED IN THE DNMT3B GENE PROMOTOR. METHODS: IN THE PRESENT STUDY, WE INVESTIGATED THE PREVALENCE OF RS2424913 SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM LOCATED IN DNMT3B GENE PROMOTOR BY RESTRICTION FRAGMENT LENGTH POLYMORPHISM (PCR-RFLP) IN EGYPTIAN PEDIATRIC CHRONIC IMMUNE THROMBOCYTOPENIA (ITP) PATIENTS AND CONTROLS. RESULTS: THE HOMOZYGOUS GENOTYPE (TT) WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN OUR PATIENT AND CONFERRED ALMOST 3-FOLD INCREASED RISK OF CHRONIC ITP WHEN COMPARED TO CONTROLS. CONCLUSION: THE PRESENT STUDY SHOWS THAT DNMT3B RS2424913 PROMOTOR POLYMORPHISM REPRESENTS A GENETIC RISK FACTOR THAT MAY PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN UNDERSTANDING THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHRONIC ITP. 2016 6 1849 27 EIGHT WEEKS OF PHYSICAL TRAINING DECREASES 2 YEARS OF DNA METHYLATION AGE OF SEDENTARY WOMEN. PURPOSE: THE ACCELERATION OF EPIGENETIC AGE IS A PREDICTOR OF MORTALITY AND CONTRIBUTES TO THE INCREASE IN CHRONIC DISEASES. ADHERENCE TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IS A STRATEGY TO REDUCE EPIGENETIC AGE. THE PRESENT STUDY AIMED TO DETERMINE WHETHER EIGHT WEEKS OF COMBINED (AEROBIC AND STRENGTH) TRAINING (CT) CAN INFLUENCE THE EPIGENETIC AGE OF WOMEN BETWEEN 50 AND 70 YEARS OLD AND THE DIFFERENCES IN SITES AND METHYLATED REGIONS. METHODS: EIGHTEEN WOMEN (AAR(LOW): LOWER AGE ACCELERATION RESIDUAL, N = 10; AAR(HIGH): HIGHER AGE ACCELERATION RESIDUAL, N = 8) PARTICIPATED IN A COMBINED EXERCISE TRAINING PROGRAM (60 MINUTES, 3X A WEEK) FOR EIGHT WEEKS. DNA WAS EXTRACTED FROM WHOLE BLOOD USING THE SALTING OUT TECHNIQUE. DNA METHYLATION WAS PERFORMED USING THE ARRAY TECHNIQUE (ILLUMINA'S INFINIUM METHYLATION BEADCHIP 850K). WE USED THE DNA METHYLATION AGE CALCULATOR PLATFORM TO CALCULATE THE BIOLOGICAL EPIGENETIC AGE. TWO-WAY ANOVA FOLLOWED BY FISHER LSD POSTHOC WAS APPLIED, ADOPTING P < .05. RESULTS: AFTER EIGHT WEEKS OF CT, THERE WERE NO CHANGES TO THE EPIGENETIC AGE ACCELERATION FOR THE AAR(LOW) GROUP (PRE: -2.3 +/- 3.2 TO POST: -2.3 +/- 3.6). HOWEVER, THE AAR(HIGH) GROUP SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASED THE AGE ACCELERATION (PRE: 3.6 +/- 2.6 TO POST: 2.2 +/- 2.7) (GROUP EFFECT, P = .01; TIME EFFECT, P = .31; GROUP VS. TIME EFFECT, P = .005). CONCLUSION: CT FOR EIGHT WEEKS BENEFITS THE EPIGENETIC CLOCK OF WOMEN WITH THE MOST ACCELERATED AGE. 2023 7 3568 35 IMPACT OF INFLAMMATION ON EPIGENETIC DNA METHYLATION - A NOVEL RISK FACTOR FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE? OBJECTIVE: THE LIFESPAN OF DIALYSIS PATIENTS IS AS SHORT AS IN PATIENTS WITH METASTATIC CANCER DISEASE, MAINLY DUE TO CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (CVD). DNA METHYLATION IS AN IMPORTANT CELLULAR MECHANISM MODULATING GENE EXPRESSION ASSOCIATED WITH AGEING, INFLAMMATION AND ATHEROSCLEROTIC PROCESSES. DESIGN: DNA METHYLATION WAS ANALYSED IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD LEUCOCYTES FROM THREE DIFFERENT GROUPS OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE (CKD) POPULATIONS (37 CKD STAGES 3 AND 4 PATIENTS, 98 CKD STAGE 5 PATIENTS AND 20 PREVALENT HAEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS). THIRTY-SIX HEALTHY SUBJECTS SERVED AS CONTROLS. CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS (DIABETES MELLITUS, NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND PRESENCE OF CLINICAL CVD), INFLAMMATION AND OXIDATIVE STRESS BIOMARKERS, HOMOCYSTEINE AND GLOBAL DNA METHYLATION IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD LEUCOCYTES (DEFINED AS HPAII/MSPI RATIO BY THE LUMINOMETRIC METHYLATION ASSAY METHOD) WERE EVALUATED. CKD STAGE 5 PATIENTS (N=98) STARTING DIALYSIS TREATMENT WERE FOLLOWED FOR A PERIOD OF 36 +/- 2 MONTHS. RESULTS: INFLAMED PATIENTS HAD LOWER RATIOS OF HPAII/MSPI, INDICATING GLOBAL DNA HYPERMETHYLATION. ANALYSIS BY THE COX REGRESSION MODEL DEMONSTRATED THAT DNA HYPERMETHYLATION (HPAII/MSPI RATIO 65 WITH CURRENT SMOKING STATUS AND CUMULATIVE SMOKING >20 PACK-YEARS, HAD ABSOLUTE 10-YEAR RISKS VARYING FROM 4% TO 16% BY AHRR(CG05575921) METHYLATION. CONCLUSION: A SIMPLE RISK CHART INCLUDING AGE, SEX, EDUCATION, SMOKING STATUS, CUMULATIVE SMOKING, AND AHRR(CG05575921) METHYLATION, IDENTIFIES INDIVIDUALS WITH 10-YEAR LUNG CANCER RISK FROM BELOW 1% TO 16%. INCLUDING AHRR(CG05575921) METHYLATION IN THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SCREENING IDENTIFIES SMOKERS WHO WOULD BENEFIT THE MOST FROM SCREENING. 2023 19 6080 26 THE EFFECT OF DNA METHYLATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESSION OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE IN THE GENERAL POPULATION: AN EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY USING THE KOREAN GENOME AND EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDY DATABASE. BACKGROUND: ALTHOUGH KNOWLEDGE OF THE GENETIC FACTORS INFLUENCING KIDNEY DISEASE IS INCREASING, EPIGENETIC PROFILES, WHICH ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE (CKD), HAVE NOT BEEN FULLY ELUCIDATED. WE SOUGHT TO IDENTIFY THE DNA METHYLATION STATUS OF CPG SITES ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED KIDNEY FUNCTION AND EXAMINE WHETHER THE IDENTIFIED CPG SITES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CKD DEVELOPMENT. METHOD: WE ANALYZED DNA METHYLATION PATTERNS OF 440 PARTICIPANTS IN THE KOREAN GENOME AND EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDY (KOGES) WITH ESTIMATED GLOMERULAR FILTRATION RATES (EGFRS) >/= 60 ML/MIN/1.73 M(2) AT BASELINE. CKD DEVELOPMENT WAS DEFINED AS A DECREASE IN THE EGFR OF <60 AT ANY TIME DURING AN 8-YEAR FOLLOW-UP PERIOD ("CKD PREDICTION" ANALYSIS). IN ADDITION, AMONG THE 440 PARTICIPANTS, 49 PARTICIPANTS WHO UNDERWENT A SECOND METHYLATION PROFILING WERE ASSESSED FOR AN ASSOCIATION BETWEEN A DECLINE IN KIDNEY FUNCTION AND CHANGES IN THE DEGREE OF METHYLATION OF CPG SITES DURING THE 8 YEARS ("KIDNEY FUNCTION SLOPE" ANALYSIS). RESULTS: IN THE CKD PREDICTION ANALYSIS, METHYLATION PROFILES OF A TOTAL OF 403,129 CPG SITES WERE EVALUATED AT BASELINE IN 440 PARTICIPANTS, AND INCREASED AND DECREASED METHYLATION OF 268 AND 189 CPG SITES, RESPECTIVELY, WERE SIGNIFICANTLY CORRELATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF CKD IN MULTIVARIABLE LOGISTIC REGRESSION. DURING KIDNEY FUNCTION SLOPE ANALYSIS USING FOLLOW-UP METHYLATION PROFILES OF 49 PARTICIPANTS, THE PERCENT METHYLATION CHANGES IN 913 CPG SITES SHOWED A LINEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PERCENT CHANGE IN EGFR DURING 8 YEARS. DURING FUNCTIONAL ENRICHMENT ANALYSES FOR SIGNIFICANT CPG SITES FOUND IN THE CKD PREDICTION AND KIDNEY FUNCTION SLOPE ANALYSES, WE FOUND THAT THOSE CPG SITES REPRESENTED MAPK, PI3K/AKT, AND RAP1 PATHWAYS. IN ADDITION, THREE CPG SITES FROM THREE GENES, NPHS2, CHCHD4, AND AHR, WERE FOUND TO BE SIGNIFICANT IN THE CKD PREDICTION ANALYSIS AND RELATED TO A DECLINE IN KIDNEY FUNCTION. CONCLUSION: IT IS SUGGESTED THAT DNA METHYLATION ON SPECIFIC GENES IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF CKD AND THE DETERIORATION OF KIDNEY FUNCTION. 2023 20 6190 28 THE IMPACT OF METHYLATION QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI (MQTLS) ON ACTIVE SMOKING-RELATED DNA METHYLATION CHANGES. BACKGROUND: METHYLATION QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI (MQTLS) ARE THE GENETIC VARIANTS THAT MAY AFFECT THE DNA METHYLATION PATTERNS OF CPG SITES. HOWEVER, THEIR ROLES IN INFLUENCING THE DISTURBANCES OF SMOKING-RELATED EPIGENETIC CHANGES HAVE NOT BEEN WELL ESTABLISHED. THIS STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO ADDRESS WHETHER MQTLS EXIST IN THE VICINITY OF SMOKING-RELATED CPG SITES (+/- 50 KB) AND TO EXAMINE THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH SMOKING EXPOSURE AND ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY IN OLDER ADULTS. RESULTS: WE OBTAINED DNA METHYLATION PROFILES IN WHOLE BLOOD SAMPLES BY ILLUMINA INFINIUM HUMAN METHYLATION 450 BEADCHIP ARRAY OF TWO INDEPENDENT SUBSAMPLES OF THE ESTHER STUDY (DISCOVERY SET, N = 581; VALIDATION SET, N = 368) AND THEIR CORRESPONDING GENOTYPING DATA USING THE ILLUMINA INFINIUM ONCOARRAY BEADCHIP. AFTER CORRECTION FOR MULTIPLE TESTING (FDR), WE SUCCESSFULLY IDENTIFIED THAT 70 OUT OF 151 PREVIOUSLY REPORTED SMOKING-RELATED CPG SITES WERE SIGNIFICANTLY ASSOCIATED WITH 192 SNPS WITHIN THE 50 KB SEARCH WINDOW OF EACH LOCUS. THE 192 MQTLS SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCED THE ACTIVE SMOKING-RELATED DNA METHYLATION CHANGES, WITH PERCENTAGE CHANGES RANGING FROM 0.01 TO 18.96%, ESPECIALLY FOR THE WEAKLY/MODERATELY SMOKING-RELATED CPG SITES. HOWEVER, THESE IDENTIFIED MQTLS WERE NOT DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE SMOKING EXPOSURE OR ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY. CONCLUSIONS: OUR FINDINGS CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED THAT IF NOT DEALT WITH PROPERLY, THE MQTLS MIGHT IMPAIR THE POWER OF EPIGENETIC-BASED MODELS OF SMOKING EXPOSURE TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. IN ADDITION, SUCH GENETIC VARIANTS COULD BE THE KEY FACTOR TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE HERITABLE AND SMOKING-INDUCED IMPACT ON EPIGENOME DISPARITIES. THESE MQTLS ARE OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE WHEN DNA METHYLATION MARKERS MEASURED BY ILLUMINA INFINIUM ASSAY ARE USED FOR ANY COMPARATIVE POPULATION STUDIES RELATED TO SMOKING-RELATED CANCERS AND CHRONIC DISEASES. 2017