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A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies in Alzheimer’s disease highlights novel differentially methylated loci across cortex

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Alan ThomasORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2021, The Author(s).Epigenome-wide association studies of Alzheimer’s disease have highlighted neuropathology-associated DNA methylation differences, although existing studies have been limited in sample size and utilized different brain regions. Here, we combine data from six DNA methylomic studies of Alzheimer’s disease (N = 1453 unique individuals) to identify differential methylation associated with Braak stage in different brain regions and across cortex. We identify 236 CpGs in the prefrontal cortex, 95 CpGs in the temporal gyrus and ten CpGs in the entorhinal cortex at Bonferroni significance, with none in the cerebellum. Our cross-cortex meta-analysis (N = 1408 donors) identifies 220 CpGs associated with neuropathology, annotated to 121 genes, of which 84 genes have not been previously reported at this significance threshold. We have replicated our findings using two further DNA methylomic datasets consisting of a further >600 unique donors. The meta-analysis summary statistics are available in our online data resource (www.epigenomicslab.com/ad-meta-analysis/).


Publication metadata

Author(s): Smith RG, Pishva E, Shireby G, Smith AR, Roubroeks JAY, Hannon E, Wheildon G, Mastroeni D, Gasparoni G, Riemenschneider M, Giese A, Sharp AJ, Schalkwyk L, Haroutunian V, Viechtbauer W, van den Hove DLA, Weedon M, Brokaw D, Francis PT, Thomas AJ, Love S, Morgan K, Walter J, Coleman PD, Bennett DA, De Jager PL, Mill J, Lunnon K

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Nature Communications

Year: 2021

Volume: 12

Issue: 1

Online publication date: 10/06/2021

Acceptance date: 16/04/2021

Date deposited: 21/06/2021

ISSN (electronic): 2041-1723

Publisher: Nature Research

URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23243-4

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23243-4


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