Title:Novel DNA Promoter Hypermethylation in Nasal Epithelium of Asthma
Volume: 26
Issue: 10
Author(s): Zhimin Zeng, Yuxia Liang, Changyi Xu, Weiping Tan, Lijuan Du, Yangli Liu*, Fengjia Chen*Yubiao Guo*
Affiliation:
- Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Institute of Pulmonary Diseases, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Institute of Pulmonary Diseases, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Institute of Pulmonary Diseases, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Keywords:
Asthma, nasal epithelium, transcriptome, methylome, WGCNA, hypermethylation.
Abstract:
Background: Abnormal epigenetic alterations influenced by external factors and affecting
DNA expression contribute to the development of asthma. However, the role of the nasal epithelium
in airway inflammation remains unknown.
Objective: The objective of this study is to identify novel DNA promoter hypermethylation, which
suppresses mRNA expression in nasal epithelial of asthma.
Methods: Microarray datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database.
Gene expression and DNA promoter methylation sites in key correlated modules between
asthma and normal were identified by weighted gene co-expression network analysis. Gene Oncology
and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were conducted to analyse the function of
genes. Further validation was performed in human BEAS-2B cells challenged by IL-4 or IL-13.
Results: Lightcyan, lightgreen, midnightblue, cyan and tan modules in the mRNA expression dataset
showed a close relationship with asthma, in which genes were enriched in TNF, IL-17, ErbB, MAPK
and Estrogen signalling pathways. Blue and turquoise modules in the methylation profiling dataset were
associated with asthma. Forty nine lowly expressed genes were identified to be correlated with aberrant
DNA hypermethylation of promoters. Among these genes, the mRNA levels of BCL10, GADD45B,
LSR and SQSTM1 were downregulated in BEAS-2B cells challenged with IL-4 or IL-13.
Conclusion: Four potential genes in the nasal epithelium, by hypermethylating their own DNA
promoter, might mediate the inflammatory response in the pathogenesis of asthma. Analyzing
epigenomic data by integrated bioinformatics helps to understand the role of DNA methylation in
asthma, with the goal of providing new perspectives for diagnosis and therapy.