1 3460 124 HYPOMETHYLATION OF THE IL8 PROMOTER IN NASAL EPITHELIAL CELLS OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS WITH NASAL POLYPS. BACKGROUND: IL-8 IS AN IMPORTANT CHEMOKINE IMPLICATED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS (CRS), BUT LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT EPIGENETIC REGULATION OF IL8 IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF CRS. OBJECTIVE: WE SOUGHT TO INVESTIGATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DNA METHYLATION LEVEL IN THE IL8 PROXIMAL PROMOTER AND CRS IN HAN CHINESE SUBJECTS. METHODS: PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS WITH NASAL POLYPS (CRSWNP; N = 187), PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS WITHOUT NASAL POLYPS (CRSSNP; N = 89), AND CONTROL SUBJECTS (N = 57) WERE ENROLLED IN 2 INDEPENDENT COHORTS. PURIFIED HUMAN NASAL EPITHELIAL CELLS FROM EACH PARTICIPANT WERE ASSESSED FOR PERCENTAGE DNA METHYLATION OF CPG SITES IN THE IL8 PROXIMAL PROMOTER BY USING BISULFITE PYROSEQUENCING AND FOR FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF METHYLATION STATUS BY USING IN VITRO ASSAYS. RESULTS: DNA METHYLATION OF CPG SITES 1, 2, AND 3, RESPECTIVELY, IN THE IL8 PROXIMAL PROMOTER WAS SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASED IN HUMAN NASAL EPITHELIAL CELLS OF PATIENTS WITH CRSWNP COMPARED WITH THAT IN PATIENTS WITH CRSSNP (P < .001) AND CONTROL SUBJECTS (P < .001). PERCENTAGE OF DNA METHYLATION OF THE CPG3 SITE WAS CORRELATED NEGATIVELY WITH BOTH TISSUE EOSINOPHILIC CATIONIC PROTEIN (P < .01) AND MYELOPEROXIDASE (P < .05) LEVELS. IL-1BETA (P < .001) AND TNF-ALPHA (P < .01) SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IL8 EXPRESSION ACCOMPANIED BY A REDUCTION IN METHYLATION AT THE CPG3 SITE (P < .001). ELECTROPHORETIC MOBILITY SHIFT ASSAYS DEMONSTRATED THAT METHYLATION STATUS OF CPG3 CHANGED THE BINDING OF OCTAMER-BINDING TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR 1 AND NUCLEAR FACTOR KAPPAB. CONCLUSION: DECREASED DNA METHYLATION OF PARTICULARLY CPG SITES IN THE IL8 PROXIMAL PROMOTER MIGHT PLAY A ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF CRSWNP. 2019 2 3783 36 INTERFERON-GAMMA PROMOTER HYPOMETHYLATION AND INCREASED EXPRESSION IN CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS. AIM: THE GOAL OF THIS INVESTIGATION WAS TO DETERMINE WHETHER EPIGENETIC MODIFICATIONS IN THE IFNG PROMOTER ARE ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASE OF IFNG TRANSCRIPTION IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF PERIODONTAL DISEASES. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DNA WAS EXTRACTED FROM GINGIVAL BIOPSY SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM 47 TOTAL SITES FROM 47 DIFFERENT SUBJECTS: 23 PERIODONTALLY HEALTHY SITES, 12 EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED GINGIVITIS SITES AND 12 CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS SITES. LEVELS OF DNA METHYLATION WITHIN THE IFNG PROMOTER CONTAINING SIX CPG DINUCLEOTIDES WERE DETERMINED USING PYROSEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY. INTERFERON GAMMA MRNA EXPRESSION WAS ANALYSED BY QUANTITATIVE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTIONS USING ISOLATED RNA FROM PART OF THE BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES MENTIONED ABOVE. RESULTS: THE METHYLATION LEVEL OF ALL SIX ANALYSED CPG SITES WITHIN THE IFNG PROMOTER REGION IN THE PERIODONTITIS BIOPSIES 52% [INTERQUARTILE RANGE, IQR (43.8%, 63%)] WAS SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN PERIODONTALLY HEALTHY SAMPLES 62% [IQR (51.3%, 74%)], P=0.007 AND GINGIVITIS BIOPSIES 63% [IQR (55%, 74%)], P=0.02. THE TRANSCRIPTIONAL LEVEL OF IFNG IN PERIODONTITIS BIOPSIES WAS 1.96-FOLD AND SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN TISSUES WITH PERIODONTAL HEALTH (P=0.04). ALTHOUGH THE MRNA LEVEL FROM EXPERIMENTAL GINGIVITIS SAMPLES EXHIBITED AN 8.5-FOLD INCREASE AS COMPARED WITH PERIODONTALLY HEALTHY SAMPLES, NO SIGNIFICANT METHYLATION DIFFERENCE WAS OBSERVED IN EXPERIMENTAL GINGIVITIS SAMPLE. CONCLUSIONS: A HYPOMETHYLATION PROFILE WITHIN IFNG PROMOTER REGION IS RELATED TO AN INCREASE OF IFNG TRANSCRIPTION PRESENT IN THE CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS BIOPSIES, WHILE SUCH AN INCREASE OF IFNG IN EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED GINGIVITIS SEEMS INDEPENDENT OF PROMOTER METHYLATION ALTERATION. 2010 3 6589 43 TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR-ALPHA GENE PROMOTER METHYLATION IN JAPANESE ADULTS WITH CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS AND RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: OVER-EXPRESSION OF TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR-ALPHA (TNF-ALPHA) PLAYS A PATHOLOGICAL ROLE IN CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS (CP) AND RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS (RA), WHICH MIGHT BE REGULATED BY THE EPIGENETIC MECHANISM. THE AIM OF THE PRESENT STUDY WAS TO EVALUATE WHETHER THERE IS A UNIQUE METHYLATION PROFILE OF THE TNF-ALPHA GENE PROMOTER IN BLOOD CELLS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH CP AND RA. MATERIAL AND METHODS: THE STUDY PARTICIPANTS CONSISTED OF 30 JAPANESE ADULTS WITH RA (RA GROUP), 30 RACE-MATCHED ADULTS WITH CP ONLY (CP GROUP) AND 30 RACE-MATCHED HEALTHY CONTROLS (H GROUP). GENOMIC DNA ISOLATED FROM PERIPHERAL BLOOD WAS MODIFIED BY SODIUM BISULFITE AND ANALYZED, BY DIRECT SEQUENCING, TO INVESTIGATE DNA METHYLATION OF THE TNF-ALPHA GENE PROMOTER REGION. THE LEVEL OF TNF-ALPHA PRODUCED IN MONONUCLEAR CELLS STIMULATED WITH PORPHYROMONAS GINGIVALIS LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE WAS DETERMINED USING ELISA. RESULTS: TWELVE CYTOSINE-GUANINE DINUCLEOTIDE (CPG) MOTIFS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE TNF-ALPHA PROMOTER FRAGMENT FROM -343 TO +57 BP. THE CP GROUP SHOWED A SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER METHYLATION RATE AND FREQUENCY AT -72 BP THAN THE H GROUP (P < 0.01). THE RA GROUP EXHIBITED SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER METHYLATION RATES AT SEVEN CPG MOTIFS (-302, -163, -119, -72, -49, -38 AND +10 BP), AND SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER METHYLATION FREQUENCIES AT SIX CPG MOTIFS (-163, -119, -72, -49, -38 AND +10 BP), THAN THE H GROUP (P < 0.01 FOR ALL COMPARISONS). THE LEVELS OF TNF-ALPHA PRODUCED WERE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS WITH AND WITHOUT METHYLATION AT -163 BP (P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: THESE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE HYPERMETHYLATED STATUS OF CPG MOTIFS IN THE TNF-ALPHA GENE PROMOTER IN BLOOD CELLS MAY BE UNIQUE TO JAPANESE ADULTS WITH CP AND RA. 2016 4 157 30 ABERRANT METHYLATION OF TUMOUR SUPPRESSOR GENE ADAM12 IN CHRONIC LYMPOCYTIC LEUKEMIA PATIENTS: APPLICATION OF METHYLATION SPECIFIC-PCR TECHNIQUE. OBJECTIVE: CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CLL) IS A COMMON LEUKEMIA AMONG CAUCASIANS BUT RARE IN ASIANS POPULATION. WE POSTULATED THAT ABERRANT METHYLATION EITHER HYPERMETHYLATION OR PARTIAL METHYLATION MIGHT BE ONE OF THE SILENCING MECHANISMS THAT INACTIVATES THE TUMOUR SUPPRESSOR GENES IN CLL. THIS STUDY AIMED TO COMPARE THE METHYLATION STATUS OF TUMOUR SUPPRESSOR GENE, ADAM12, AMONG CLL PATIENTS AND NORMAL INDIVIDUALS. WE ALSO EVALUATED THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN METHYLATION OF ADAM12 AND CLINICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PARTICIPANTS. METHODS: A TOTAL OF 25 CLL PATIENTS AND 25 NORMAL INDIVIDUALS WERE RECRUITED IN THIS STUDY. THE METHYLATION STATUS OF ADAM12 WAS DETERMINED USING METHYLATION-SPECIFIC PCR (MSP); WHEREAS, DNA SEQUENCING METHOD WAS APPLIED FOR VALIDATION OF THE MSP RESULTS. RESULTS: AMONG CLL PATIENTS, 12 (48%) WERE PARTIALLY METHYLATED AND 13 (52%) WERE UNMETHYLATED. MEANWHILE, 5 (20%) AND 20 (80.6%) OF HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS WERE PARTIALLY METHYLATED AND UNMETHYLATED, RESPECTIVELY. THERE WAS A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE STATUS OF METHYLATION AT ADAM12 AND THE PRESENCE OF CLL (P=0.037). CONCLUSION: THE ABERRANT METHYLATION OF ADAM12 FOUND IN THIS STUDY USING MSP ASSAY MAY PROVIDE NEW EXPOSURE TO CLL THAT MAY IMPROVE THE GAPS INVOLVED IN GENETIC EPIGENETIC STUDY IN CLL. 2021 5 1586 34 DNA METHYLATION PROFILING IDENTIFIES EPIGENETIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EARLY VERSUS LATE STAGES OF DIABETIC CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE. BACKGROUND: WE INVESTIGATED A CROSS-SECTIONAL EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF PATIENTS WITH EARLY AND LATE DIABETES-ASSOCIATED CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE (CKD) TO IDENTIFY POSSIBLE EPIGENETIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS AS WELL AS CHANGES IN METHYLATION ACROSS ALL STAGES OF DIABETIC CKD. WE ALSO EVALUATED THE POTENTIAL OF USING A PANEL OF IDENTIFIED 5'-C-PHOSPHATE-G-3' (CPG) SITES FROM THIS COHORT TO PREDICT THE PROGRESSION OF DIABETIC CKD. METHODS: THIS CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY RECRUITED 119 ADULTS. DNA WAS EXTRACTED FROM BLOOD USING THE QIAGEN QIAAMPDNA MINI SPIN KIT. GENOME-WIDE METHYLATION ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED USING ILLUMINA INFINIUM METHYLATIONEPIC BEADCHIPS (HM850K). INTENSITY DATA FILES WERE PROCESSED AND ANALYSED USING THE MINFI AND MISSMETHYL PACKAGES FOR R. WE EXAMINED THE DEGREE OF METHYLATION OF CPG SITES IN EARLY VERSUS LATE DIABETIC CKD PATIENTS FOR CPG SITES WITH AN UNADJUSTED P-VALUE <0.01 AND AN ABSOLUTE CHANGE IN METHYLATION OF 5% (N = 239 CPG SITES). RESULTS: HIERARCHICAL CLUSTERING OF THE 239 CPG SITES LARGELY SEPARATED THE TWO GROUPS. A HEAT MAP FOR ALL 239 CPG SITES DEMONSTRATED DISTINCT METHYLATION PATTERNS IN THE EARLY VERSUS LATE GROUPS, WITH CPG SITES SHOWING EVIDENCE OF PROGRESSIVE CHANGE. BASED ON OUR DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGION (DMR) ANALYSIS OF THE 239 CPG SITES, WE HIGHLIGHTED TWO DMRS, NAMELY THE CYSTEINE-RICH SECRETORY PROTEIN 2 (CRISP2) AND PIWI-LIKE RNA-MEDIATED GENE SILENCING 1 (PIWIL1) GENES. THE BEST PREDICTABILITY FOR THE TWO GROUPS INVOLVED A RECEIVER OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS CURVE OF EIGHT CPG SITES ALONE AND ACHIEVED AN AREA UNDER THE CURVE OF 0.976. CONCLUSIONS: WE HAVE IDENTIFIED DISTINCT DNA METHYLATION PATTERNS BETWEEN EARLY AND LATE DIABETIC CKD PATIENTS AS WELL AS DEMONSTRATED NOVEL FINDINGS OF POTENTIAL PROGRESSIVE METHYLATION CHANGES ACROSS ALL STAGES (1-5) OF DIABETIC CKD AT SPECIFIC CPG SITES. WE HAVE ALSO IDENTIFIED ASSOCIATED GENES CRISP2 AND PIWIL1, WHICH MAY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO ACT AS STAGE-SPECIFIC DIABETES-ASSOCIATED CKD MARKERS, AND SHOWED THAT THE USE OF A PANEL OF EIGHT IDENTIFIED CPG SITES ALONE HELPS TO INCREASE THE PREDICTABILITY FOR THE TWO GROUPS. 2021 6 5086 38 PILOT STUDY OF DNA METHYLATION IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS WITH NASAL POLYPS. BACKGROUND: DNA METHYLATION HAS BEEN IMPLICATED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF ALLERGY AND ATOPY. THIS STUDY AIMED TO IDENTIFY WHETHER DNA METHYLATION ALSO PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF NASAL POLYPS (NP). METHODOLOGY: NP TISSUES WERE OBTAINED FROM 32 PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS WITH BILATERAL NP. BIOPSIES OF INFERIOR TURBINATE MUCOSA (ITM) WERE TAKEN FROM 18 PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT RHINOSEPTOPLASTY (CONTROL GROUP). THE METHYLATED GENES, WHICH WERE DETECTED BY DNA METHYLATION MICROARRAY, WERE VALIDATED BY METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION, BISULPHITE SEQUENCING, REAL-TIME POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY. RESULTS: DNA METHYLATION MICROARRAY IDENTIFIED 8,008 CPG ISLANDS IN 2,848 GENES. ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT GENES WERE FOUND TO HAVE A METHYLATED SIGNAL IN THE PROMOTER REGION IN NP SAMPLES COMPARED WITH ITM SAMPLES. THE FOUR TOP GENES THAT CHANGED, COL18A1, EP300, GNAS AND SMURF1, WERE SELECTED FOR FURTHER STUDY. THE METHYLATION FREQUENCY OF COL18A1 WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN NP SAMPLES THAN IN ITM SAMPLES. CONCLUSIONS: DNA METHYLATION MIGHT PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF NP. PROMOTER METHYLATION OF COL18A1 WAS FOUND TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IN NP TISSUES, FURTHER STUDIES ARE NECESSARY TO CONFIRM THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE EPIGENETIC FACTORS IN THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE DEVELOPMENT OR PERSISTENCE OF NP. 2015 7 1433 31 DIFFERENTIAL GENOME-WIDE ARRAY-BASED METHYLATION PROFILES IN PROGNOSTIC SUBSETS OF CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA. GLOBAL HYPOMETHYLATION AND REGIONAL HYPERMETHYLATION ARE WELL-KNOWN EPIGENETIC FEATURES OF CANCER; HOWEVER, IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CLL), STUDIES ON GENOME-WIDE EPIGENETIC MODIFICATIONS ARE LIMITED. HERE, WE ANALYZED THE GLOBAL METHYLATION PROFILES IN CLL, BY APPLYING HIGH-RESOLUTION METHYLATION MICROARRAYS (27,578 CPG SITES) TO 23 CLL SAMPLES, BELONGING TO THE IMMUNOGLOBULIN HEAVY-CHAIN VARIABLE (IGHV) MUTATED (FAVORABLE) AND IGHV UNMUTATED/IGHV3-21 (POOR-PROGNOSTIC) SUBSETS. OVERALL, RESULTS DEMONSTRATED SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN METHYLATION PATTERNS BETWEEN THESE SUBGROUPS. SPECIFICALLY, IN IGHV UNMUTATED CLL, WE IDENTIFIED METHYLATION OF 7 KNOWN OR CANDIDATE TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES (EG, VHL, ABI3, AND IGSF4) AS WELL AS 8 UNMETHYLATED GENES INVOLVED IN CELL PROLIFERATION AND TUMOR PROGRESSION (EG, ADORA3 AND PRF1 ENHANCING THE NUCLEAR FACTOR-KAPPAB AND MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE PATHWAYS, RESPECTIVELY). IN CONTRAST, THESE LATTER GENES WERE SILENCED BY METHYLATION IN IGHV MUTATED PATIENTS. THE ARRAY DATA WERE VALIDATED FOR SELECTED GENES USING METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION, QUANTITATIVE REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE-POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION, AND BISULFITE SEQUENCING. FINALLY, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DNA METHYLATION IN REGULATING GENE PROMOTERS WAS SHOWN BY REINDUCING 4 METHYLATED TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES (EG, VHL AND ABI3) IN IGHV UNMUTATED SAMPLES USING THE METHYL-INHIBITOR 5-AZA-2'-DEOXYCYTIDINE. TAKEN TOGETHER, OUR DATA FOR THE FIRST TIME REVEAL DIFFERENCES IN GLOBAL METHYLATION PROFILES BETWEEN PROGNOSTIC SUBSETS OF CLL, WHICH MAY UNFOLD EPIGENETIC SILENCING MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN CLL PATHOGENESIS. 2010 8 3995 42 LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF DNA METHYLATION OF INFLAMMATORY GENES AND CANCER RISK. BACKGROUND: CHRONIC INFLAMMATION PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN CANCER ETIOLOGY. DNA METHYLATION MODIFICATION, ONE OF THE EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS REGULATING GENE EXPRESSION, IS CONSIDERED A HALLMARK OF CANCER. HUMAN AND ANIMAL MODELS HAVE IDENTIFIED NUMEROUS LINKS BETWEEN DNA METHYLATION AND INFLAMMATORY BIOMARKERS. OUR OBJECTIVE WAS TO PROSPECTIVELY AND LONGITUDINALLY EXAMINE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN METHYLATION OF FOUR INFLAMMATORY GENES AND CANCER RISK. METHODS: WE INCLUDED 795 NORMATIVE AGING STUDY PARTICIPANTS WITH BLOOD DRAWN ONE TO FOUR TIMES FROM 1999 TO 2012 (MEDIAN FOLLOW-UP, 10.6 YEARS). PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION OF IL6, ICAM-1, IFN, AND TLR2 IN BLOOD LEUKOCYTES WAS MEASURED USING PYROSEQUENCING AT MULTIPLE CPG SITES AND AVERAGED BY GENE FOR DATA ANALYSIS. WE USED COX REGRESSION MODELS TO EXAMINE PROSPECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS OF BASELINE AND TIME-DEPENDENT METHYLATION WITH CANCER RISK AND COMPARED MEAN METHYLATION DIFFERENCES OVER TIME BETWEEN CANCER CASES AND CANCER-FREE PARTICIPANTS. RESULTS: BASELINE IFN HYPERMETHYLATION WAS ASSOCIATED WITH ALL-CANCER (HR, 1.49; P = 0.04) AND PROSTATE CANCER INCIDENCE (HR, 1.69; P = 0.02). BASELINE ICAM-1 AND IL6 HYPERMETHYLATION WERE ASSOCIATED WITH PROSTATE CANCER INCIDENCE (HR, 1.43; P = 0.02; HR, 0.70; P = 0.03, RESPECTIVELY). IN OUR TIME-DEPENDENT ANALYSES, IFN HYPERMETHYLATION WAS ASSOCIATED WITH ALL-CANCER (HR, 1.79; P = 0.007) AND PROSTATE CANCER (HR, 1.57; P = 0.03) INCIDENCE; AND ICAM-1 AND IL6 HYPERMETHYLATION WERE ASSOCIATED WITH PROSTATE CANCER INCIDENCE (HR, 1.39; P = 0.02; HR, 0.69; P = 0.03, RESPECTIVELY). WE DETECTED SIGNIFICANT ICAM-1 HYPERMETHYLATION IN CANCER CASES (P = 0.0003) 10 TO 13 YEARS PREDIAGNOSIS. CONCLUSION: HYPERMETHYLATION OF IFN AND ICAM-1 MAY PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES IN EARLY CARCINOGENESIS, PARTICULARLY THAT OF PROSTATE CANCER. IMPACT: THESE METHYLATION CHANGES COULD INFORM THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY DETECTION BIOMARKERS AND POTENTIAL TREATMENTS OF INFLAMMATION-RELATED CARCINOGENESIS. 2015 9 3062 39 GENOME-WIDE DNA METHYLATION ANALYSIS REVEALS NOVEL EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA. WE CONDUCTED A GENOME-WIDE DNA METHYLATION ANALYSIS IN CD19 (+) B-CELLS FROM CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CLL) PATIENTS AND NORMAL CONTROL SAMPLES USING REDUCED REPRESENTATION BISULFITE SEQUENCING (RRBS). THE METHYLATION STATUS OF 1.8-2.3 MILLION CPGS IN THE CLL GENOME WAS DETERMINED; ABOUT 45% OF THESE CPGS WERE LOCATED IN MORE THAN 23,000 CPG ISLANDS (CGIS). WHILE GLOBAL CPG METHYLATION WAS SIMILAR BETWEEN CLL AND NORMAL B-CELLS, 1764 GENE PROMOTERS WERE IDENTIFIED AS BEING DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED IN AT LEAST ONE CLL SAMPLE WHEN COMPARED WITH NORMAL B-CELL SAMPLES. NINETEEN PERCENT OF THE DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENES WERE INVOLVED IN TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION. ABERRANT HYPERMETHYLATION WAS FOUND IN ALL HOX GENE CLUSTERS AND A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF WNT SIGNALING PATHWAY GENES. HYPOMETHYLATION OCCURRED MORE FREQUENTLY IN THE GENE BODY INCLUDING INTRONS, EXONS, AND 3'-UTRS IN CLL. THE NFATC1 P2 PROMOTER AND FIRST INTRON WAS FOUND TO BE HYPOMETHYLATED AND CORRELATED WITH UPREGULATION OF BOTH NFATC1 RNA AND PROTEIN EXPRESSION LEVELS IN CLL SUGGESTING THAT AN EPIGENETIC MECHANISM IS INVOLVED IN THE CONSTITUTIVE ACTIVATION OF NFAT ACTIVITY IN CLL CELLS. THIS COMPREHENSIVE DNA METHYLATION ANALYSIS WILL FURTHER OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EPIGENETIC CONTRIBUTION TO CELLULAR DYSFUNCTION IN CLL. 2012 10 972 37 CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE IS ASSOCIATED WITH EPIGENOME-WIDE DIFFERENTIAL METHYLATION IN BAL LUNG CELLS. DNA METHYLATION PATTERNS IN CHRONIC PULMONARY OBSTRUCTIVE DISEASE (COPD) MIGHT OFFER NEW INSIGHTS INTO DISEASE PATHOGENESIS. TO ASSESS METHYLATION PROFILES IN THE MAIN COPD TARGET ORGAN, WE PERFORMED AN EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY ON BAL CELLS. BRONCHOSCOPIES WERE PERFORMED IN 18 SUBJECTS WITH COPD AND 15 CONTROL SUBJECTS (EX- AND CURRENT SMOKERS). DNA METHYLATION WAS MEASURED USING THE ILLUMINA METHYLATIONEPIC BEADCHIP KIT, COVERING MORE THAN 850,000 CPGS. DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED POSITIONS (DMPS) WERE EXAMINED FOR 1) ENRICHMENT IN PATHWAYS AND FUNCTIONAL GENE RELATIONSHIPS USING THE KYOTO ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GENES AND GENOMES AND GENE ONTOLOGY, 2) ACCELERATED AGING USING HORVATH'S EPIGENETIC CLOCK, 3) CORRELATION WITH GENE EXPRESSION, AND 4) COLOCALIZATION WITH GENETIC VARIATION. WE FOUND 1,155 BONFERRONI-SIGNIFICANT (P < 6.74 X 10(-8)) DMPS ASSOCIATED WITH COPD, MANY WITH LARGE EFFECT SIZES. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS IDENTIFIED BIOLOGICALLY PLAUSIBLE PATHWAYS AND GENE RELATIONSHIPS, INCLUDING ENRICHMENT FOR TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR ACTIVITY. STRONG CORRELATION WAS FOUND BETWEEN DNA METHYLATION AND CHRONOLOGICAL AGE BUT NOT BETWEEN COPD AND ACCELERATED AGING. FOR 79 UNIQUE DMPS, DNA METHYLATION CORRELATED SIGNIFICANTLY WITH GENE EXPRESSION IN BAL CELLS. THIRTY-NINE PERCENT OF DMPS WERE COLOCALIZED WITH COPD-ASSOCIATED SNPS. TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, THIS IS THE FIRST EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF COPD ON BAL CELLS, AND OUR ANALYSES REVEALED MANY DIFFERENTIAL METHYLATION SITES. INTEGRATION WITH MRNA DATA SHOWED A STRONG FUNCTIONAL READOUT FOR RELEVANT GENES, IDENTIFYING SITES WHERE DNA METHYLATION MIGHT DIRECTLY AFFECT EXPRESSION. ALMOST HALF OF DMPS WERE COLOCATED WITH SNPS IDENTIFIED IN PREVIOUS GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES OF COPD, SUGGESTING JOINT GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC PATHWAYS RELATED TO DISEASE. 2022 11 2847 23 FREQUENT P15 PROMOTER METHYLATION IN TUMOR AND PERIPHERAL BLOOD FROM HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA PATIENTS. WE PROSPECTIVELY ANALYZED P15 METHYLATION PATTERNS IN 25 SURGICALLY RESECTED TUMORS AND 130 PLASMA, SERUM, AND BUFFY COAT SAMPLES FROM HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC) PATIENTS, CONTROLS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS/CIRRHOSIS, AND HEALTHY SUBJECTS. USING METHYLATION-SPECIFIC PCR, WE DEMONSTRATED FOR THE FIRST TIME P15 PROMOTER METHYLATION IN 64% OF TUMORS AND 25% (4 OF 16) OF PATIENTS' PLASMA AND SERUM SAMPLES. CONCURRENT P15 AND P16 METHYLATION WAS SHOWN IN 48% OF TUMORS, AND P15/P16 METHYLATION WAS DETECTED IN THE PLASMA/SERUM OF 92% (11 OF 12) OF PATIENTS. OF NOTE, 75% OF 12 PATIENTS WITH CONCURRENT TUMOR METHYLATION DEVELOPED CLINICAL METASTASIS/RECURRENCE (P = 0.027). IN BUFFY COAT SAMPLES, P15 METHYLATION WAS DETECTED IN ALL EIGHT PATIENTS WITH TUMOR P15 METHYLATION, SUGGESTING THE PRESENCE OF CIRCULATING TUMOR CELLS. NONE OF THE CONTROL SAMPLES WERE METHYLATION POSITIVE. OUR DATA UNDERSCORE THE IMPORTANT ROLE(S) OF P15 AND P16 METHYLATION IN HEPATOCARCINOGENESIS AND TUMOR PROGRESSION. AMONG 92% (23 OF 25) OF PATIENTS WITH TUMOR P15/P16 METHYLATION, CIRCULATING TUMOR DNA AND HCC CELLS WERE DETECTED IN THE PERIPHERAL BLOOD OF 87% (20 OF 23) OF PATIENTS. THE COMBINATION OF THESE EPIGENETIC MARKERS MAY PROVE VALUABLE FOR NONINVASIVE HCC DIAGNOSIS AND DISEASE MONITORING. 2000 12 1495 24 DNA HYPERMETHYLATION OF CELL CYCLE (P15 AND P16) AND APOPTOTIC (P14, P53, DAPK AND TMS1) GENES IN PERIPHERAL BLOOD OF LEUKEMIA PATIENTS. ABERRANT DNA METHYLATION OF TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES HAS BEEN REPORTED IN ALL MAJOR TYPES OF LEUKEMIA WITH POTENTIAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE INACTIVATION OF REGULATORY CELL CYCLE AND APOPTOSIS GENES. HOWEVER, MOST OF THE PREVIOUS REPORTS DID NOT SHOW THE EXTENT OF CONCURRENT METHYLATION OF MULTIPLE GENES IN THE FOUR LEUKEMIA TYPES. HERE, WE ANALYZED SIX KEY GENES (P14, P15, P16, P53, DAPK AND TMS1) FOR DNA METHYLATION USING METHYLATION SPECIFIC PCR TO ANALYZE PERIPHERAL BLOOD OF 78 LEUKEMIA PATIENTS (24 CML, 25 CLL, 12 AML, AND 17 ALL) AND 24 HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS. IN CML, METHYLATION WAS DETECTED FOR P15 (11%), P16 (9%), P53 (23%) AND DAPK (23%), IN CLL, P14 (25%), P15 (19%), P16 (12%), P53 (17%) AND DAPK (36%), IN AML, P14 (8%), P15 (45%), P53 (9%) AND DAPK (17%) AND IN ALL, P15 (14%), P16 (8%), AND P53 (8%). THIS STUDY HIGHLIGHTED AN ESSENTIAL ROLE OF DAPK METHYLATION IN CHRONIC LEUKEMIA IN CONTRAST TO P15 METHYLATION IN THE ACUTE CASES, WHEREAS TMS1 HYPERMETHYLATION WAS ABSENT IN ALL CASES. FURTHERMORE, HYPERMETHYLATION OF MULTIPLE GENES PER PATIENT WAS OBSERVED, WITH OBVIOUS SELECTIVENESS IN THE 9P21 CHROMOSOMAL REGION GENES (P14, P15 AND P16). INTERESTINGLY, METHYLATION OF P15 INCREASED THE RISK OF METHYLATION IN P53, AND VICE VERSA, BY FIVE FOLDS (P=0.03) INDICATING POSSIBLE SYNERGISTIC EPIGENETIC DISRUPTION OF DIFFERENT PHASES OF THE CELL CYCLE OR BETWEEN THE CELL CYCLE AND APOPTOSIS. THE INVESTIGATION OF MULTIPLE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN METHYLATED GENES MIGHT SHED LIGHT ON TUMOR SPECIFIC INACTIVATION OF THE CELL CYCLE AND APOPTOTIC PATHWAYS. 2014 13 308 32 ALCOHOL AND DNA METHYLATION: AN EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY IN BLOOD AND NORMAL BREAST TISSUE. THE BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS DRIVING ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND CHRONIC DISEASES MIGHT INCLUDE EPIGENETIC MODIFICATION OF DNA METHYLATION. WE EXPLORED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IS ASSOCIATED WITH METHYLATION IN AN EPIGENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF BLOOD AND NORMAL BREAST TISSUE DNA. INFINIUM HUMANMETHYLATION450 BEADCHIP (ILLUMINA INC., SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA) ARRAY DATA ON BLOOD DNA METHYLATION WAS EXAMINED IN A DISCOVERY SET OF 2,878 NON-HISPANIC WHITE WOMEN FROM THE SISTER STUDY (UNITED STATES, 2004-2015) WHO PROVIDED DETAILED QUESTIONNAIRE INFORMATION ON LIFETIME ALCOHOL USE. ROBUST LINEAR REGRESSION MODELING WAS USED TO IDENTIFY SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATIONS (FALSE DISCOVERY RATE OF Q < 0.05) BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKS PER WEEK AND DNA METHYLATION AT 5,458 CYTOSINE-PHOSPHATE-GUANINE (CPG) SITES. ASSOCIATIONS WERE REPLICATED (P < 0.05) FOR 677 CPGS IN AN INDEPENDENT SET OF 187 BLOOD DNA SAMPLES FROM THE SISTER STUDY AND FOR 628 CPGS IN AN INDEPENDENT SET OF 171 NORMAL BREAST DNA SAMPLES; 1,207 CPGS WERE REPLICATED IN EITHER BLOOD OR NORMAL BREAST, WITH 98 CPGS REPLICATED IN BOTH TISSUES. INDIVIDUAL GENE EFFECTS WERE NOTABLE FOR PHOSPHOGLYCERATE DEHYDROGENASE (PGHDH), PEPTIDYL-PROLYL CIS-TRANS ISOMERASE (PPIF), SOLUTE CARRIER 15 (SLC15), SOLUTE CARRIER FAMILY 43 MEMBER 1 (SLC43A1), AND SOLUTE CARRIER FAMILY 7 MEMBER 11 (SLC7A11). WE ALSO FOUND THAT HIGH ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION WAS ASSOCIATED WITH SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER GLOBAL METHYLATION AS MEASURED BY THE AVERAGE OF CPGS ON THE ENTIRE ARRAY. 2019 14 401 38 ANALYSIS OF ABERRANT METHYLATION ON PROMOTER SEQUENCES OF TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES AND TOTAL DNA IN SPUTUM SAMPLES: A PROMISING TOOL FOR EARLY DETECTION OF COPD AND LUNG CANCER IN SMOKERS. BACKGROUND: CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) IS A DISORDER ASSOCIATED TO CIGARETTE SMOKE AND LUNG CANCER (LC). SINCE EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN ONCOGENES AND TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES (TSGS) ARE CLEARLY IMPORTANT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LC. IN THIS STUDY, WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT TOBACCO SMOKERS ARE SUSCEPTIBLE FOR METHYLATION IN THE PROMOTER REGION OF TSGS IN AIRWAY EPITHELIAL CELLS WHEN COMPARED WITH NON-SMOKER SUBJECTS. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE USEFULNESS OF DETECTION OF GENES PROMOTER METHYLATION IN SPUTUM SPECIMENS, AS A COMPLEMENTARY TOOL TO IDENTIFY LC BIOMARKERS AMONG SMOKERS WITH EARLY COPD. METHODS: WE DETERMINED THE AMOUNT OF DNA IN INDUCED SPUTUM FROM PATIENTS WITH COPD (N = 23), LC (N = 26), AS WELL AS IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS (CTR) (N = 33), USING A COMMERCIAL KIT FOR DNA PURIFICATION, FOLLOWED BY ABSORBANCE MEASUREMENT AT 260 NM. THE FREQUENCY OF CDKN2A, CDH1 AND MGMT PROMOTER METHYLATION IN THE SAME GROUPS WAS DETERMINED BY METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (MSP). THE FISHER'S EXACT TEST WAS EMPLOYED TO COMPARE FREQUENCY OF RESULTS BETWEEN DIFFERENT GROUPS. RESULTS: DNA CONCENTRATION WAS 7.4 AND 5.8 TIMES HIGHER IN LC AND COPD COMPARED TO THE (CTR) (P < 0.0001), RESPECTIVELY. METHYLATION STATUS OF CDKN2A AND MGMT WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN COPD AND LC PATIENTS COMPARED WITH CTR GROUP (P < 0.0001). FREQUENCY OF CDH1 METHYLATION ONLY SHOWED A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LC PATIENTS AND CTR GROUP (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: WE PROVIDE EVIDENCE THAT ABERRANT METHYLATION OF TSGS IN SAMPLES OF INDUCED SPUTUM IS A USEFUL TOOL FOR EARLY DIAGNOSTIC OF LUNG DISEASES (LC AND COPD) IN SMOKER SUBJECTS. VIRTUAL SLIDES: THE ABSTRACT MUST FINISH WITH THE FOLLOWING TEXT: VIRTUAL SLIDES THE VIRTUAL SLIDE(S) FOR THIS ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE: HTTP://WWW.DIAGNOSTICPATHOLOGY.DIAGNOMX.EU/VS/1127865005664160. 2012 15 6415 29 THE STUDY OF P16 AND P15 GENE METHYLATION IN HEAD AND NECK SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA AND THEIR QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION IN PLASMA BY REAL-TIME PCR. EPIGENETIC SILENCING OF THE P16 AND P15 GENES BY PROMOTER METHYLATION ARE COMMONLY OBSERVED IN HUMAN EPITHELIAL MALIGNANCIES, INCLUDING HEAD AND NECK SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMAS (HNSCC). IN THIS STUDY, A METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (MSP) WAS USED TO EVALUATE THE METHYLATION STATUS OF THE P16 AND P15 GENES IN 73 HNSCC SURGICAL SPECIMENS. P16 AND P15 GENE METHYLATION WAS ALSO EXAMINED IN 29 PAIRED METASTATIC LYMPH NODES AND 29 PAIRED HISTOLOGICALLY, NORMAL RESECTION MARGIN MUCOSAE. THE QUANTITY OF CELL-FREE METHYLATED P16 AND P15 DNA IN THE PLASMA SAMPLES OF 20 HNSCC PATIENTS AND 24 HEALTHY CONTROLS WAS ALSO EXAMINED USING A FLUORESCENCE-BASED REAL-TIME PCR ASSAY. THE FREQUENCIES OF P16 AND P15 METHYLATION IN THE PRIMARY TUMOUR WERE 49% AND 60%, RESPECTIVELY. CONCORDANT METHYLATION OF P16 AND P15 IN TUMOUR SAMPLES AND METASTATIC LYMPH NODES WAS FOUND IN 59 AND 38% OF CASES, RESPECTIVELY. A SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER PREVALENCE OF P15 METHYLATION WAS FOUND IN HISTOLOGICALLY-NORMAL SURGICAL MARGIN EPITHELIA OF HNSCC PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC SMOKING AND DRINKING HABITS COMPARED WITH NON-SMOKERS AND NON-DRINKERS. IN ADDITION, METHYLATED P16 AND P15 DNA LEVELS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN THE PLASMA OF HNSCC PATIENTS (MEAN 56 COPIES/ML PLASMA AND 65 COPIES/ML PLASMA, RESPECTIVELY) COMPARED WITH NORMAL CONTROLS (MEAN 6 COPIES/ML PLASMA AND 16 COPIES/ML PLASMA, RESPECTIVELY). IN CONCLUSION, PROMOTER METHYLATION OF THE P16 AND P15 GENES IS INVOLVED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF HNSCC AND MAY BE RELATED TO CHRONIC SMOKING AND DRINKING. THE DIFFERENTIAL LEVELS OF METHYLATED P16 AND P15 DNA IN PLASMA MIGHT BE POTENTIAL USEFUL MARKERS IN SCREENING HIGH-RISK POPULATIONS FOR EARLY HNSCC AND MONITORING THEIR TREATMENT RESPONSE. 2003 16 1910 35 ENRICHMENT OF GENOMIC PATHWAYS BASED ON DIFFERENTIAL DNA METHYLATION PROFILES ASSOCIATED WITH KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS PAIN. OUR STUDY AIMED TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGIONS (I.E., GENOMIC REGION WHERE MULTIPLE ADJACENT CPG SITES SHOW DIFFERENTIAL METHYLATION) AND THEIR ENRICHED GENOMIC PATHWAYS ASSOCIATED WITH KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS PAIN (KOA). WE RECRUITED COGNITIVELY HEALTHY MIDDLE TO OLDER AGED (AGE 45-85) ADULTS WITH (N = 182) AND WITHOUT (N = 31) SELF-REPORTED KOA PAIN. WE ALSO EXTRACTED DNA FROM PERIPHERAL BLOOD THAT WAS ANALYZED USING METHYLATIONEPIC ARRAYS. THE R PACKAGE MINFI (ARYEE ET AL., 2014) WAS USED TO PERFORM METHYLATION DATA PREPROCESSING AND QUALITY CONTROL. TO INVESTIGATE BIOLOGICAL PATHWAYS IMPACTED BY DIFFERENTIAL METHYLATION, WE PERFORMED PATHWAY ENRICHMENT ANALYSIS USING INGENUITY PATHWAY ANALYSIS (IPA) TO IDENTIFY CANONICAL PATHWAYS AND UPSTREAM REGULATORS. ANNOTATED GENES WITHIN +/- 5 KB OF THE PUTATIVE DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGIONS (DMRS, P < 0.05) WERE SUBJECTED TO THE IPA ANALYSIS. THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN AGE, SEX, STUDY SITE BETWEEN NO PAIN AND PAIN GROUP (P > 0.05). NON-HISPANIC BLACK INDIVIDUALS WERE OVERREPRESENTED IN THE PAIN GROUP (P = 0.003). AT RAW P < 0.05 CUTOFF, WE IDENTIFIED A TOTAL OF 19,710 CPG PROBES, INCLUDING 13,951 HYPERMETHYLATED CPG PROBES, FOR WHICH DNA METHYLATION LEVEL WAS HIGHER IN THE GROUPS WITH HIGHEST PAIN GRADES. WE ALSO IDENTIFIED 5,759 HYPOMETHYLATED CPG PROBES FOR WHICH DNA METHYLATION LEVEL WAS LOWER IN THE PAIN GROUPS WITH HIGHER PAIN GRADES. IPA REVEALED THAT PAIN-RELATED DMRS WERE ENRICHED ACROSS MULTIPLE PATHWAYS AND UPSTREAM REGULATORS. THE TOP 10 CANONICAL PATHWAYS WERE LINKED TO CELLULAR SIGNALING PROCESSES RELATED TO IMMUNE RESPONSES (I.E., ANTIGEN PRESENTATION, PD-1, PD-L1 CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY, B CELL DEVELOPMENT, IL-4 SIGNALING, TH1 AND TH2 ACTIVATION PATHWAY, AND PHAGOSOME MATURATION). MOREOVER, IN TERMS OF UPSTREAM REGULATORS, NDUFAF3 WAS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT (P = 8.6E-04) UPSTREAM REGULATOR. OUR FINDINGS SUPPORT PREVIOUS PRELIMINARY WORK SUGGESTING THE IMPORTANCE OF EPIGENETIC REGULATION OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM IN KNEE PAIN AND THE NEED FOR FUTURE WORK TO UNDERSTAND THE EPIGENETIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHRONIC PAIN. 2022 17 3294 33 HIGH INCIDENCE OF MGMT AND RARBETA PROMOTER METHYLATION IN PRIMARY GLIOBLASTOMAS: ASSOCIATION WITH HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS, INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS AND CLINICAL OUTCOME. GLIOBLASTOMAS, THE MOST FREQUENT PRIMARY BRAIN TUMORS IN ADULTS, ARE CHARACTERIZED BY A HIGHLY AGGRESSIVE, INFLAMMATORY AND ANGIOGENIC PHENOTYPE. METHYLATION OF CPG ISLANDS IN CANCER-RELATED GENES MAY SERVE AS AN EPIGENETIC BIOMARKER FOR GLIOBLASTOMA DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO ANALYZE THE METHYLATION STATUS OF FOUR CRITICAL TUMOR-ASSOCIATED GENES (MGMT, RARBETA, RASSF1A, CDH13), AND INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE LINKS WITH INFLAMMATORY (INTERLEUKIN [IL]-6, IL-8) AND ANGIOGENIC MEDIATORS (VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR [VEGF], CYCLOOXYGENASE [COX]-2) AND CLINICAL OUTCOME IN 23 GLIOMA SAMPLES (6 GRADE II ASTROCYTOMAS, 17 GRADE IV GLIOBLASTOMAS). RARBETA AND MGMT GENES WERE MORE FREQUENTLY METHYLATED IN 70.58% AND 58.8% OF GLIOBLASTOMAS, RESPECTIVELY. RASSF1A AND CDH13 DISPLAYED A SIMILAR METHYLATION FREQUENCY (23.52%) IN GLIOBLASTOMAS. NO GENE METHYLATION WAS OBSERVED IN GRADE II ASTROCYTOMAS. TUMOR GRADE CORRELATED POSITIVELY WITH MGMT AND RARBETA METHYLATION (P = 0.005 AND P = 0.019, RESPECTIVELY) AND THE EXTENT OF NECROSIS (P = 0.001 AND P = 0.003). INTERESTINGLY, THE MARKER OF CHRONIC INFLAMMATION, IL-6, WAS POSITIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH METHYLATION OF MGMT (P = 0.004), RARBETA (P = 0.002), AND RASSF1A (P = 0.0081) AS WELL AS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF METHYLATED GENES (P < 0.0001), INDICATING THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF IL-6 IN MAINTAINING PROMOTER METHYLATION OF THESE GENES. VEGF EXPRESSION CORRELATED POSITIVELY WITH MGMT AND RARBETA METHYLATION ALTHOUGH THESE RELATIONSHIPS WERE OF MARGINAL SIGNIFICANCE (P = 0.0679 AND P = 0.0757). KAPLAN-MEIER UNIVARIATE SURVIVAL ANALYSIS INDICATED AN UNFAVORABLE SURVIVAL PERIOD IN PATIENTS WITH MGMT METHYLATION COMPARED WITH THOSE WITHOUT METHYLATION (P = 0.0474). OUR STUDY HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPLICATION OF MGMT AND RARBETA METHYLATION IN THE AGGRESSIVE PHENOTYPE OF PRIMARY GLIOBLASTOMAS. THE ASSOCIATION OF MGMT METHYLATION WITH CLINICAL OUTCOME INDICATES ITS POTENTIAL PROGNOSTIC VALUE. 2010 18 382 38 AN EPIGENOME-WIDE STUDY OF BODY MASS INDEX AND DNA METHYLATION IN BLOOD USING PARTICIPANTS FROM THE SISTER STUDY COHORT. BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBESITY AND CHRONIC DISEASE RISK IS WELL-ESTABLISHED; THE UNDERLYING BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS DRIVING THIS RISK INCREASE MAY INCLUDE OBESITY-RELATED EPIGENETIC MODIFICATIONS. TO EXPLORE THIS HYPOTHESIS, WE CONDUCTED A GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS OF DNA METHYLATION AND BODY MASS INDEX (BMI) USING DATA FROM A SUBSET OF WOMEN IN THE SISTER STUDY. SUBJECTS/METHODS: THE SISTER STUDY IS A COHORT OF 50 884 US WOMEN WHO HAD A SISTER WITH BREAST CANCER BUT WERE FREE OF BREAST CANCER THEMSELVES AT ENROLLMENT. STUDY PARTICIPANTS COMPLETED EXAMINATIONS WHICH INCLUDED MEASUREMENTS OF HEIGHT AND WEIGHT, AND PROVIDED BLOOD SAMPLES. BLOOD DNA METHYLATION DATA GENERATED WITH THE ILLUMINA INFINIUM HUMANMETHYLATION27 BEADCHIP ARRAY COVERING 27,589 CPG SITES WAS AVAILABLE FOR 871 WOMEN FROM A PRIOR STUDY OF BREAST CANCER AND DNA METHYLATION. TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED CPG SITES ASSOCIATED WITH BMI, WE ANALYZED THIS METHYLATION DATA USING ROBUST LINEAR REGRESSION WITH ADJUSTMENT FOR AGE AND CASE STATUS. FOR THOSE CPGS PASSING THE FALSE DISCOVERY RATE SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL, WE EXAMINED THE ASSOCIATION IN A REPLICATION SET COMPRISED OF A NON-OVERLAPPING GROUP OF 187 WOMEN FROM THE SISTER STUDY WHO HAD DNA METHYLATION DATA GENERATED USING THE INFINIUM HUMANMETHYLATION450 BEADCHIP ARRAY. ANALYSIS OF THIS EXPANDED 450 K ARRAY IDENTIFIED ADDITIONAL BMI-ASSOCIATED SITES WHICH WERE INVESTIGATED WITH TARGETED PYROSEQUENCING. RESULTS: FOUR CPG SITES REACHED GENOME-WIDE SIGNIFICANCE (FALSE DISCOVERY RATE (FDR) Q<0.05) IN THE DISCOVERY SET AND ASSOCIATIONS FOR ALL FOUR WERE SIGNIFICANT AT STRICT BONFERRONI CORRECTION IN THE REPLICATION SET. AN ADDITIONAL 23 SITES PASSED FDR IN THE REPLICATION SET AND FIVE WERE REPLICATED BY PYROSEQUENCING IN THE DISCOVERY SET. SEVERAL OF THE GENES IDENTIFIED INCLUDING ANGPT4, RORC, SOCS3, FSD2, XYLT1, ABCG1, STK39, ASB2 AND CRHR2 HAVE BEEN LINKED TO OBESITY AND OBESITY-RELATED CHRONIC DISEASES. CONCLUSIONS: OUR FINDINGS SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS THAT OBESITY-RELATED EPIGENETIC DIFFERENCES ARE DETECTABLE IN BLOOD AND MAY BE RELATED TO RISK OF CHRONIC DISEASE. 2017 19 3138 37 GLOBAL DNA METHYLATION PROFILING REVEALS NEW INSIGHTS INTO EPIGENETICALLY DEREGULATED PROTEIN CODING AND LONG NONCODING RNAS IN CLL. BACKGROUND: METHYL-CPG-BINDING DOMAIN PROTEIN ENRICHED GENOME-WIDE SEQUENCING (MBD-SEQ) IS A ROBUST AND POWERFUL METHOD FOR ANALYZING METHYLATED CPG-RICH REGIONS WITH COMPLETE GENOME-WIDE COVERAGE. IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CLL), THE ROLE OF CPG METHYLATED REGIONS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSCRIBED LONG NONCODING RNAS (LNCRNA) AND REPETITIVE GENOMIC ELEMENTS ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD. BASED ON MBD-SEQ, WE CHARACTERIZED THE GLOBAL METHYLATION PROFILE OF HIGH CPG-RICH REGIONS IN DIFFERENT CLL PROGNOSTIC SUBGROUPS BASED ON IGHV MUTATIONAL STATUS. RESULTS: OUR STUDY IDENTIFIED 5800 HYPERMETHYLATED AND 12,570 HYPOMETHYLATED CLL-SPECIFIC DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENES (CLLDMGS) COMPARED TO NORMAL CONTROLS. FROM CLLDMGS, 40 % OF HYPERMETHYLATED AND 60 % OF HYPOMETHYLATED GENES WERE MAPPED TO NONCODING RNAS. IN ADDITION, WE FOUND THAT THE MAJOR REPETITIVE ELEMENTS SUCH AS SHORT INTERSPERSED ELEMENTS (SINE) AND LONG INTERSPERSED ELEMENTS (LINE) HAVE A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF CLLDMRS (DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED REGIONS) IN IGHV SUBGROUPS COMPARED TO NORMAL CONTROLS. FINALLY, TWO NOVEL LNCRNAS (HYPERMETHYLATED CRNDE AND HYPOMETHYLATED AC012065.7) WERE VALIDATED IN AN INDEPENDENT CLL SAMPLE COHORT (48 SAMPLES) COMPARED WITH 6 NORMAL SORTED B CELL SAMPLES USING QUANTITATIVE PYROSEQUENCING ANALYSIS. THE METHYLATION LEVELS SHOWED AN INVERSE CORRELATION TO GENE EXPRESSION LEVELS ANALYZED BY REAL-TIME QUANTITATIVE PCR. NOTABLY, SURVIVAL ANALYSIS REVEALED THAT HYPERMETHYLATION OF CRNDE AND HYPOMETHYLATION OF AC012065.7 CORRELATED WITH AN INFERIOR OUTCOME. CONCLUSIONS: THUS, OUR COMPREHENSIVE METHYLATION ANALYSIS BY MBD-SEQ PROVIDED NOVEL HYPER AND HYPOMETHYLATED LONG NONCODING RNAS, REPETITIVE ELEMENTS, ALONG WITH PROTEIN CODING GENES AS POTENTIAL EPIGENETIC-BASED CLL-SIGNATURE GENES INVOLVED IN DISEASE PATHOGENESIS AND PROGNOSIS. 2016 20 5270 35 PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION FREQUENCY AND CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL ROLE OF MIR-129-2 GENE IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA. OBJECTIVES: CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CLL) IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE ACCUMULATION OF APPARENTLY MATURE B-TYPE LYMPHOCYTES IN THE LYMPHOHEMATOPOIETIC ORGANS. METHYLATION IN PROMOTERS OF TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES IS ONE OF THE MECHANISMS THAT CAUSES BLOOD MALIGNANCY. IN THIS STUDY, WE EVALUATED THE PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION STATUS OF MIR-129-2 TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENE AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH CLINICAL AND LABORATORY PARAMETERS OF PATIENTS WITH CLL. METHODS: WE STUDIED THE PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION FREQUENCY OF THE MIR-129-2 GENE IN 50 PATIENTS WITH CLL AND 50 HEALTHY CONTROLS USING METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION METHODS. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED USING SPSS-18 SOFTWARE, AND A P-VALUE < 0.050 WAS CONSIDERED STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. RESULTS: THE FREQUENCY OF PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION OF THE MIR-129-2 GENE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN THE CLL GROUP COMPARED WITH CONTROL GROUP (38.0% VS. 0.0%, P < 0.001; CHI(2) = 23.457). THE PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION FREQUENCY OF MIR-129-2 GENE WAS NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE TWO SEXES (P = 0.236). A SIGNIFICANT BUT WEAK CORRELATION WAS SEEN BETWEEN THE METHYLATED STATE OF THE MIR-129-2 GENE AND ORGANOMEGALY (P = 0.019, R = 0.330) AS WELL AS HEMOGLOBIN LEVELS (P = 0.020, R = -0.233). HOWEVER, BINARY LOGISTIC REGRESSION ANALYSIS INDICATED ORGANOMEGALY AS THE ONLY CLINICAL BIOMARKER WITH A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATION WITH THE HYPERMETHYLATED MIR-129-2 GENE STATE (P = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: THE HIGH FREQUENCY OF PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION OF THE MIR-129-2 GENE IN THE CLL GROUP COMPARED TO THE CONTROL GROUP, AS WELL AS ITS SIGNIFICANT ASSOCIATION WITH ORGANOMEGALY, SUGGESTS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS EPIGENETIC BIOMARKER IN THE PATHOGENESIS AND PROGNOSIS OF CLL DISEASE. 2020