Variants in the fetal genome near pro-inflammatory cytokine genes on 2q13 associate with gestational duration

The duration of pregnancy is influenced by fetal and maternal genetic and non-genetic factors. Here we report a fetal genome-wide association meta-analysis of gestational duration, and early preterm, preterm, and postterm birth in 84,689 infants. One locus on chromosome 2q13 is associated with gestational duration; the association is replicated in 9,291 additional infants (combined P = 3.96 × 10−14). Analysis of 15,588 mother-child pairs shows that the association is driven by fetal rather than maternal genotype. Functional experiments show that the lead SNP, rs7594852, alters the binding of the HIC1 transcriptional repressor. Genes at the locus include several interleukin 1 family members with roles in proinflammatory pathways that are central to the process of parturition. Further understanding of the underlying mechanisms will be of great public health importance, since giving birth either before or after the window of term gestation is associated with increased morbidity and mortalit

Strategies for validation and testing of DNA methylation biomarkers

DNA methylation is a stable covalent epigenetic modification of primarily CpG dinucleotides that has recently gained considerable attention for its use as a biomarker in different clinical settings, including disease diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic response prediction. Although the advent of genome-wide DNA methylation profiling in primary disease tissue has provided a manifold resource for biomarker development, only a tiny fraction of DNA methylation-based assays have reached clinical testing. Here, we provide a critical overview of different analytical methods that are suitable for biomarker validation, including general study design considerations, which might help to streamline epigenetic marker development. Furthermore, we highlight some of the recent marker validation studies and established markers that are currently commercially available for assisting in clinical management of different cancers

Systematic review of lung function and COPD with peripheral blood DNA methylation in population based studies

Background Epigenetic variations in peripheral blood have potential as biomarkers for disease. This systematic review assesses the association of lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with DNA methylation profiles in peripheral blood from population-based studies. Methods Online databases Medline, Embase, and Web of Science were searched. Google Scholar was searched to identify grey literature. After removing duplicate articles, 1155 articles were independently screened by two investigators. Peer reviewed reports on population-based studies that examined peripheral blood DNA methylation in participants with measured lung function (FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio) or known COPD status were selected for full-text review. Six articles were suitable for inclusion. Information regarding study characteristics, designs, methodologies and conclusions was extracted. A narrative synthesis was performed based on published results. Results Three of the six articles assessed the association of COPD with DNA methylation, and two of these also included associations with lung function. Overall, five reports examined the association of lung function with DNA methylation profiles. Five of the six articles reported ‘significant’ results. However, no consistent CpG sites were identified across studies for COPD status or lung function values. Conclusions DNA methylation patterns in peripheral blood from individuals with reduced lung function or COPD may be different to those in people with normal lung function. However, this systematic review did not find any consistent associations of lung function or COPD with differentially methylated CpG sites. Large studies with a longitudinal design to address reverse causality may prove a more fruitful area of research

Role of DNA methylation in the association of lung function with body mass index: a two-step epigenetic Mendelian randomisation study

Low lung function has been associated with increased body mass index (BMI). The aim of this study was to investigate whether the effect of BMI on lung function is mediated by DNA methylation.; We used individual data from 285,495 participants in four population-based cohorts: the European Community Respiratory Health Survey, the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Disease in Adults, and the UK Biobank. We carried out Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses in two steps using a two-sample approach with SNPs as instrumental variables (IVs) in each step. In step 1 MR, we estimated the causal effect of BMI on peripheral blood DNA methylation (measured at genome-wide level) using 95 BMI-associated SNPs as IVs. In step 2 MR, we estimated the causal effect of DNA methylation on FEV; 1; , FVC, and FEV; 1; /FVC using two SNPs acting as methQTLs occurring close (in cis) to CpGs identified in the first step. These analyses were conducted after exclusion of weak IVs (F statistic < 10) and MR estimates were derived using the Wald ratio, with standard error from the delta method. Individuals whose data were used in step 1 were not included in step 2.; In step 1, we found that BMI might have a small causal effect on DNA methylation levels (less than 1% change in methylation per 1 kg/m2 increase in BMI) at two CpGs (cg09046979 and cg12580248). In step 2, we found no evidence of a causal effect of DNA methylation at cg09046979 on lung function. We could not estimate the causal effect of DNA methylation at cg12580248 on lung function as we could not find publicly available data on the association of this CpG with SNPs.; To our knowledge, this is the first paper to report the use of a two-step MR approach to assess the role of DNA methylation in mediating the effect of a non-genetic factor on lung function. Our findings do not support a mediating effect of DNA methylation in the association of lung function with BMI

Genetic variation in cervical preinvasive and invasive disease: a genome-wide association study

Background: Most uterine cervical high-risk HPV infections (hrHPV) are transient, with only a small 3fraction developing into cervical cancer. Family aggregation studies and heritability estimates suggest 4a significant inherited genetic component. Candidate gene studies and previous genome-wide 5association studies (GWAS) report associations between the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region 6and cervical cancer. 78 Methods: Adopting a genome-wide approach, we compared the genetic variation in women with 9invasive cervical cancer (ICC) and cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 3, to that in healthy 10controls using the largest reported cohort of unrelated European individuals (N=150,314)to date. We 11sought for replication in a second large independent dataset (N=128,123). We further performed a two-12sample Mendelian Randomisation approach to explore the role of risk factors in the genetic risk of 13cervical cancer.1415 Findings: In our analysis (N=4,769 CIN3 and ICC cases; N=145,545 controls), of the (N=9,600,464) 16assayed and imputed SNPs, six independent variants were found associated with CIN3and ICC. These 17included novel loci rs10175462(PAX8; OR=0.87(95%CI=0.84-0.91); P=1.07x10-9) and rs27069 18(CLPTM1L;OR=0.88(95%CI=0.84-0.92); P=2.51x10-9), and previously reported signals at rs9272050 19(HLA-DQA1;OR=1.27(95%CI=1.21-1.32); P=2.51x10-28), rs6938453 (MICA;OR=0.7920(95%CI=0.75-0.83); P=1.97x10-17), rs55986091 (HLA-DQB1;OR=0.66(95%CI=0.60-0.72); 21P=6.42x10-22) and rs9266183 (HLA-B;OR=0.73(95%CI=0.64-0.83); P=1.53x10-6). Mendelian 22randomisation further supported the complementary role of smoking, age at first pregnancy, and number 23of sexual partners in the risk of developing cervical cancer.2425 Interpretation: Our results provide substantial new evidence for genetic susceptibility to cervical cancer, 26including PAX8, CLPTM1LandHLA genes, suggesting disruption in apoptotic and immune function 27pathways.Future studies integrating host and viral, genetic and epigenetic variation, could further 28elucidate complex host-viral interactions

Determinants of accelerated metabolomic and epigenetic aging in a UK cohort

Markers of biological aging have potential utility in primary care and public health. We developed a model of age based on untargeted metabolic profiling across multiple platforms, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry in urine and serum, within a large sample (N = 2,239) from the UK Airwave cohort. We validated a subset of model predictors in a Finnish cohort including repeat measurements from 2,144 individuals. We investigated the determinants of accelerated aging, including lifestyle and psychological risk factors for premature mortality. The metabolomic age model was well correlated with chronological age (mean r = .86 across independent test sets). Increased metabolomic age acceleration (mAA) was associated after false discovery rate (FDR) correction with overweight/obesity, diabetes, heavy alcohol use and depression. DNA methylation age acceleration measures were uncorrelated with mAA. Increased DNA methylation phenotypic age acceleration (N = 1,110) was associated after FDR correction with heavy alcohol use, hypertension and low income. In conclusion, metabolomics is a promising approach for the assessment of biological age and appears complementary to established epigenetic clocks.Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. Grant Number: 633666, 633595, 733206; Home Office. Grant Number: 780‐TETRA; National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre; UK MEDical BIOinformatics Partnership. Grant Number: MR/L01632X/1