Abstract
Background and aimsCentral obesity is a condition that poses a significant risk to global health and requires the employment of novel scientific methods for exploration. The objective of this study is to use DNA methylation analysis to detect DNA methylation loci linked to obesity phenotypes, i.e. waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI.Methods and resultsTwo-hundred and ten healthy European participants from the STANISLAS Family Study (SFS), comprising 73 nuclear families, were comprehensively assessed for methylation status using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. An epigenome-wide association study was performed, which identified a CpG site cg16170243 located on chromosome 18q21.2 significantly associated with waist circumference, after adjusting for BMI (β = 2.32, SE = 0.41, Padj = 0.048). Cg16170243 corresponds to a 50 bp-length human methylation oligoprobe located within the AC090241.2 gene that overlaps ST8SIA5 gene. No significant association was observed with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI (Padj > 0.05).ConclusionsA novel association between DNA methylation and WC was identified, which is demonstrating that epigenetic mechanisms may have a significant impact on waist circumference ratio in healthy individuals. Further studies are warranted to address the causal effects of this association.
Highlights
Background and aimsCentral obesity is a condition that poses a significant risk to global health and requires the employment of novel scientific methods for exploration
One individual was excluded after quality control checks of the methylation array data, 210 participants were included in the analyses
The results of the analysis showed one novel significant positive association of cg16170243 probe with waist circumference (WC) adjusted for sex, age, body mass index (BMI), family structure, and individual blood cell counts (β = 2.32, Standard error (SE) = 0.41; Padj = 0.048) in the combined population
Summary
Background and aimsCentral obesity is a condition that poses a significant risk to global health and requires the employment of novel scientific methods for exploration. DNA methylation patterns are not static but undergo precise, highly coordinated changes that can be mediated both by environmental and genetic factors and inherited through mitotic cell divisions [4]. This process occurs already during embryogenesis and is crucial for development, differentiation and cellular variability [3], as well as for the transcriptional regulation of genes and miRNA [5]. Atypical patterns of DNA methylation are associated with obesity, oxidative stress, hypertension, inflammation, angiogenesis and other pathological processes. Waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio can well account for obesity-related pathologies [10]
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