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Associations between high blood pressure and DNA methylation

Kazmi, N; Elliott, HR; Burrows, K; Tillin, T; Hughes, AD; Chaturvedi, N; Gaunt, TR; (2020) Associations between high blood pressure and DNA methylation. PLoS One , 15 (1) , Article e0227728. 10.1371/journal.pone.0227728. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Epigenetic processes including DNA methylation potentially mediate the relationship between genetic factors, the environment and cardiovascular disease. Despite an increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in individuals of South Asians compared to Europeans, it is not clear whether associations between blood pressure and DNA methylation differ between these groups. METHODS: We performed an epigenome-wide association study and differentially methylated region (DMR) analysis to identify DNA methylation sites and regions that were associated with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and hypertension. We analyzed samples from 364 European and 348 South Asian men (first generation migrants to the UK) from the Southall And Brent REvisited cohort, measuring DNA methylation from blood using the Illumina Infinium® HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. RESULTS: One CpG site was found to be associated with DBP in trans-ancestry analyses (i.e. both ethnic groups combined), while in Europeans alone seven CpG sites were associated with DBP. No associations were identified between DNA methylation and either SBP or hypertension. Comparison of effect sizes between South Asian and European EWAS for DBP, SBP and hypertension revealed little concordance between analyses. DMR analysis identified several regions with known relationships with CVD and its risk factors. CONCLUSION: This study identified differentially methylated sites and regions associated with blood pressure and revealed ethnic differences in these associations. These findings may point to molecular pathways which may explain the elevated cardiovascular disease risk experienced by those of South Asian ancestry when compared to Europeans.

Type: Article
Title: Associations between high blood pressure and DNA methylation
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227728
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227728
Language: English
Additional information: © 2020 Kazmi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: DNA methylation, Hypertension, Blood pressure, Europe, Cardiovascular diseases, Ethnic epidemiology, Methylation, Stroke
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine > MRC Unit for Lifelong Hlth and Ageing
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10092787
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