Open AccessIntegration of gene expression and DNA methylation profiles provides a molecular subtype for risk assessment in atherosclerosis
Author(s) -
Shengchao Ma,
Huiping Zhang,
FanQi Kong,
Hui Zhang,
Chia-Ming Yang,
Yangyang He,
Yanhua Wang,
Yang Ai,
Jiang Tian,
Xia Yang,
Minghao Zhang,
Hui Xu,
Yideng Jiang,
Yu Zheng
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
molecular medicine reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.727
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1791-3004
pISSN - 1791-2997
DOI - 10.3892/mmr.2016.5120
Subject(s) - dna methylation , biology , methylation , biomarker , gene , epigenetics , microbiology and biotechnology , promoter , genetics , computational biology , gene expression
The aim of the present study was to identify an effective method for detecting early‑phase atherosclerosis (AS), as well as to provide useful DNA methylation profiles to serve as biomarkers for the detection of AS. A total of 300 individuals (150 AS patients and 150 healthy subjects) were recruited for peripheral blood DNA methylation analyses at 12 gene promoter loci using nested methylation‑specic polymerase chain reaction in a test set. Based on the test set, the promoter methylation of TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1 (TIMP1), ATP binding cassette subfamily A member 1 (ABCA1), and acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase 1 (ACAT1) were determined to be candidate biomarkers; demonstrating the highest sensitivity (88%) and specificity (90%). The biomarkers that were candidates for early AS detection were validated in an independent validation set (n=100). In the validation set, the combination of TIMP1, ABCA1 and ACAT1 methylation achieved sensitivity, specificity and coincidence rate values of 88, 70 and 79%, respectively. In the current pilot study, the patterns of DNA methylation of AS‑associated genes were observed to be significantly altered in the peripheral blood of AS patients. Thus, the AS-specific methylation of the three‑gene panel (TIMP1, ABCA1, and ACAT1) may serve as a valuable biomarker for the early detection of AS.