Epigenome-wide association study detects a novel loci associated with central obesity in healthy subjects

• Published in: BMC medical genomics Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 233 - 8
• Main Authors: Xie, Ting, Gorenjak, Vesna, Stathopoulou, Maria G, Dadé, Sébastien, Marouli, Eirini, Masson, Christine, Murray, Helena, Lamont, John, Fitzgerald, Peter, Deloukas, Panos, Visvikis-Siest, Sophie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 23.09.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Blood; Body fat; Body Mass Index; Central obesity; Chromosome 18; Chronic illnesses; Consent; CpG Islands; Data collection; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diabetes; DNA; DNA Methylation; Epigenesis, Genetic; Epigenetic inheritance; Epigenetics; Epigenome; EWAS; Families & family life; Family structure; Female; Gene expression; Genetic aspects; Genetic Loci; Genetic variation; Genome-Wide Association Study; Genomes; Health aspects; Health care; Healthy Volunteers; Hip; Humans; Hypertension; Laboratories; Life Sciences; Male; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Methylation; Middle Aged; Obesity; Obesity, Abdominal - genetics; Oxidative stress; Participation; Phenotypes; Population; Public health; Quality control; Risk factors; Sex chromosomes; Software; Waist Circumference - genetics; Waist-Hip Ratio; France; Epigenetics; EWAS; Methylation; Central obesity
• ISSN: 1755-8794; 1755-8794
• DOI: 10.1186/s12920-021-01077-9

Central 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. Two-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, P  = 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 (P  > 0.05). A 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.