Genome-wide analysis reveals DNA methylation markers that varies with both age and obesity

ABSTRACT: Background: The obesity epidemic and the aging population of many western countries together with their associated diseases are major challenges for the healthcare. As obesity is a risk factor for many age related diseases, such as cancer, it is of importance to understand their interaction and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Lately, epigenetic programming in the form of DNA methylation and have been recognized for its importance in aging, obesity and several diseases. Method: Herein, the methylation level was determined for around 27000 CpG-islands in 46 DNA samples from adult peripheral blood with microarrays. The dependence for each CpG island with age, obesity and their interaction was ascertained with a general linear model. Results: The methylation level of more than 100 genomic sites were significantly altered with increasing age together with 10 additional sites that were differentially methylated with age in obese and lean individuals. The majority of the genomic sites were hypermethylated during aging, including the telomerase catalytic subunit (TERT). However, age dependent hypermethylation was prohibited or reverted in 8 of 10 regions in obese where an interaction between age and obesity was observed. Moreover, one region (LINC00304) was differentially methylated in obese and lean. Conclusion: This study provides evidence for an obesity influence on age driven epigenetic changes, which provide a molecular link between aging and obesity. This link and the identified markers may prove to be valuable biomarkers for the understanding of the molecular basis of aging, obesity and associated diseases. Bisulphite converted DNA from the 24 obese and 22 lean women were hybridised to the Illumina Infinium 27k Human Methylation Beadchip v1.2

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

SUBMITTER: Markus Sällman Almén 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-44763 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress