Project description:Obesity-associated asthma is recognized as a distinct entity with non-atopic T-helper 1 polarized systemic inflammation. DNA methylation is linked with T helper cell maturation and is associated with inflammatory patterns in asthma and obesity. However, it is unknown whether pathologic dysregulation of DNA methylation patterns occurs in obesity-associated asthma. Using HELP-tagging, we studied epigenome wide DNA methylation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in 8 urban minority obese asthmatic pre-adolescent children and compared it to methylation in groups of 8 children with asthma alone, obesity alone and healthy controls. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis was used to identify biological pathways that were differentially targeted by methylation dysregulation. We found that obese asthmatics had distinct epigenome wide methylation patterns associated with decreased promoter methylation of a subset of genes, including RANTES, IL-12R and TBX21 and increased promoter methylation of CD23, a low affinity receptor for IgE and of TGFβ, inhibitor of Th cell activation. T cell signaling and macrophage activation were the two primary pathways that were selectively hypomethylated in obese asthmatics. These methylation patterns suggest that methylation is associated with non-atopic inflammation observed in obese asthmatic children compared to children with asthma alone and obesity alone. Our findings suggest a role of DNA methylation in the observed inflammatory patterns in pediatric obesity-associated asthma in minorities.
