1. Genome-wide study of DNA methylation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis identifies differentially methylated loci and implicates metabolic, inflammatory and cholesterol pathways
- Author
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Orla Hardiman, Karen E. Morrison, Johnathan Cooper-Knock, Susan Mathers, Matthieu Moisse, Kevin P. Kenna, Michal Zabari, Ruben J. Cauchi, Jonathan Mill, Maurizio Grassano, Paul J. Hop, de Carvalho M, Allan F. McRae, John Landers, Heiko Runz, Basak An, Lerner Y, Mònica Povedano, Drory, Patrick Vourc'h, Philippe Couratier, van Rheenen W, Jan H. Veldink, Denis Baird, Antonia Ratti, Van Damme P, Garth A. Nicholson, Andrea Calvo, van Vugt Jj, Nicola Ticozzi, Eilis Hannon, Antonio Canosa, Silani, Matthew C. Kiernan, Ian P. Blair, Guy A. Rouleau, Mitne Neto M, Kelly L. Williams, Christopher Shaw, Emma Walker, Markus Weber, Frederik J. Steyn, Anjali K. Henders, Peter M. Andersen, Marta F. Nabais, Henk-Jan Westeneng, Dominic B. Rowe, Ramona A. J. Zwamborn, Salas T, Susana Pinto, Shyuan T. Ngo, van den Berg Lh, Sarah Furlong, Adriano Chiò, Mora Pardina Js, Marc Gotkine, Leanne Wallace, Al Khleifat A, Naomi R. Wray, Tian Lin, Roger Pamphlett, Ellen A. Tsai, Alfredo Iacoangeli, Gijs H.P. Tazelaar, Robert D. Henderson, van Es Ma, Pamela J. Shaw, Annelot M. Dekker, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Pamela A. McCombe, Maura Brunetti, Merrilee Needham, Philippe Corcia, Karen A. Mather, Gemma Shireby, Jay P. Ross, Russell L. McLaughlin, Pasterkamp Rj, van Eijk Kr, Patrick A. Dion, Cristina Moglia, Perminder S. Sachdev, and Fleur C. Garton
- Subjects
Genetics ,Genome-wide association study ,Disease ,Biology ,medicine.disease ,Genome ,Blood cell ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,White blood cell ,DNA methylation ,Brain MEND Consortium ,medicine ,BIOS Consortium ,Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ,Gene - Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease with an estimated heritability of around 50%. DNA methylation patterns can serve as biomarkers of (past) exposures and disease progression, as well as providing a potential mechanism that mediates genetic or environmental risk. Here, we present a blood-based epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) meta-analysis in 10,462 samples (7,344 ALS patients and 3,118 controls), representing the largest case-control study of DNA methylation for any disease to date. We identified a total of 45 differentially methylated positions (DMPs) annotated to 42 genes, which are enriched for pathways and traits related to metabolism, cholesterol biosynthesis, and immunity. We show that DNA-methylation-based proxies for HDL-cholesterol, BMI, white blood cell (WBC) proportions and alcohol intake were independently associated with ALS. Integration of these results with our latest GWAS showed that cholesterol biosynthesis was causally related to ALS. Finally, we found that DNA methylation levels at several DMPs and blood cell proportion estimates derived from DNA methylation data, are associated with survival rate in patients, and could represent indicators of underlying disease processes.
- Published
- 2021