Blood DNA methylation and COVID-19 outcomes.
Clin Epigenetics
; 13(1): 118, 2021 05 25.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1243819
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
There are no prior reports that compare differentially methylated regions of DNA in blood samples from COVID-19 patients to samples collected before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic using a shared epigenotyping platform. We performed a genome-wide analysis of circulating blood DNA CpG methylation using the Infinium Human MethylationEPIC BeadChip on 124 blood samples from hospitalized COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative patients and compared these data with previously reported data from 39 healthy individuals collected before the pandemic. Prospective outcome measures such as COVID-19-GRAM risk-score and mortality were combined with methylation data.RESULTS:
Global mean methylation levels did not differ between COVID-19 patients and healthy pre-pandemic controls. About 75% of acute illness-associated differentially methylated regions were located near gene promoter regions and were hypo-methylated in comparison with healthy pre-pandemic controls. Gene ontology analyses revealed terms associated with the immune response to viral infections and leukocyte activation; and disease ontology analyses revealed a predominance of autoimmune disorders. Among COVID-19-positive patients, worse outcomes were associated with a prevailing hyper-methylated status. Recursive feature elimination identified 77 differentially methylated positions predictive of COVID-19 severity measured by the GRAM-risk score.CONCLUSION:
Our data contribute to the awareness that DNA methylation may influence the expression of genes that regulate COVID-19 progression and represent a targetable process in that setting.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
DNA Methylation
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Clin Epigenetics
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S13148-021-01102-9
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