DNA methylation and the adverse metabolic outcomes of adiposity

Overweight and obesity affect ~1.5 billion people worldwide, and are major risk factors for type-2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease and related metabolic and inflammatory disturbances.1,2 Although the mechanisms linking adiposity to its clinical sequelae are poorly understood, recent studies suggest that adiposity may influence DNA methylation,3-6 a key regulator of gene expression and molecular phenotype.7 Here we use epigenome-wide association to show that body mass index (BMI, a key measure of adiposity) is associated with widespread changes in DNA methylation (187 genetic loci at P<1x10-7, range P=9.2x10-8 to 6.0x10-46; N=10,261 samples). Genetic association analyses demonstrate that the alterations in DNA methylation are predominantly the consequence of adiposity, rather than the cause. We find the methylation loci are enriched for functional genomic features in multiple tissues (P<0.05), and show that sentinel methylation markers identify gene expression signatures at 38 loci (P<9.0x10-6, range P=5.5x10-6 to 6.1x10-35, N=1,785 samples). The methylation loci identified highlight genes involved in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism, substrate transport, and inflammatory pathways. Finally, we show that the disturbances in DNA methylation predict future type-2 diabetes (relative risk per 1SD increase in Methylation Risk Score: 2.3 [2.07-2.56]; P=1.1x10-54). Our results provide new insights into the biologic pathways influenced by adiposity, and may enable development of new strategies for prediction and prevention of type-2 diabetes and other adverse clinical consequences of obesity.

Type: Other
Archiver: European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA)

1 Dataset 2 Publications

Click on a Dataset ID in the table below to learn more, and to find out who to contact about access to these data

Dataset ID	Description	Technology	Samples
EGAD00010001029	Summary statistics for a multi-cohort epigenome-wide association study. This includes summary statistics (effect-size, standard error, p-value) for 470,000 methylation markers.		-

Publications	Citations
Epigenome-wide association study of body mass index, and the adverse outcomes of adiposity. Wahl S, Drong A, Lehne B, Loh M, Scott WR, Kunze S, Tsai PC, Ried JS, Zhang W, Yang Y, Tan S, Fiorito G, Franke L, Guarrera S, Kasela S, Kriebel J, Richmond RC, Adamo M, Afzal U, Ala-Korpela M, Albetti B, Ammerpohl O, Apperley JF, Beekman M, Bertazzi PA, Black SL, Blancher C, Bonder MJ, Brosch M, Carstensen-Kirberg M, de Craen AJ, de Lusignan S, Dehghan A, Elkalaawy M, Fischer K, Franco OH, Gaunt TR, Hampe J, Hashemi M, Isaacs A, Jenkinson A, Jha S, Kato N, Krogh V, Laffan M, Meisinger C, Meitinger T, Mok ZY, Motta V, Ng HK, Nikolakopoulou Z, Nteliopoulos G, Panico S, Pervjakova N, Prokisch H, Rathmann W, Roden M, Rota F, Rozario MA, Sandling JK, Schafmayer C, Schramm K, Siebert R, Slagboom PE, Soininen P, Stolk L, Strauch K, Tai ES, Tarantini L, Thorand B, Tigchelaar EF, Tumino R, Uitterlinden AG, van Duijn C, van Meurs JB, Vineis P, Wickremasinghe AR, Wijmenga C, Yang TP, Yuan W, Zhernakova A, Batterham RL, Smith GD, Deloukas P, Heijmans BT, Herder C, Hofman A, Lindgren CM, Milani L, van der Harst P, Peters A, Illig T, Relton CL, Waldenberger M, Järvelin MR, Bollati V, Soong R, Spector TD, Scott J, McCarthy MI, Elliott P, Bell JT, Matullo G, Gieger C, Kooner JS, Grallert H, Chambers JC. Nature 541: 2017 81-86	510
Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of BMI in nine cohorts: Examining the utility of epigenetically predicted BMI. Do WL, Sun D, Meeks K, Dugué PA, Demerath E, Guan W, Li S, Chen W, Milne R, Adeyemo A, Agyemang C, Nassir R, Manson JE, Shadyab AH, Hou L, Horvath S, Assimes TL, Bhatti P, Jordahl KM, Baccarelli AA, Smith AK, Staimez LR, Stein AD, Whitsel EA, Narayan KMV, Conneely KN. Am J Hum Genet 110: 2023 273-283	7

Publications

Citations

Epigenome-wide association study of body mass index, and the adverse outcomes of adiposity.
Wahl S, Drong A, Lehne B, Loh M, Scott WR, Kunze S, Tsai PC, Ried JS, Zhang W, Yang Y, Tan S, Fiorito G, Franke L, Guarrera S, Kasela S, Kriebel J, Richmond RC, Adamo M, Afzal U, Ala-Korpela M, Albetti B, Ammerpohl O, Apperley JF, Beekman M, Bertazzi PA, Black SL, Blancher C, Bonder MJ, Brosch M, Carstensen-Kirberg M, de Craen AJ, de Lusignan S, Dehghan A, Elkalaawy M, Fischer K, Franco OH, Gaunt TR, Hampe J, Hashemi M, Isaacs A, Jenkinson A, Jha S, Kato N, Krogh V, Laffan M, Meisinger C, Meitinger T, Mok ZY, Motta V, Ng HK, Nikolakopoulou Z, Nteliopoulos G, Panico S, Pervjakova N, Prokisch H, Rathmann W, Roden M, Rota F, Rozario MA, Sandling JK, Schafmayer C, Schramm K, Siebert R, Slagboom PE, Soininen P, Stolk L, Strauch K, Tai ES, Tarantini L, Thorand B, Tigchelaar EF, Tumino R, Uitterlinden AG, van Duijn C, van Meurs JB, Vineis P, Wickremasinghe AR, Wijmenga C, Yang TP, Yuan W, Zhernakova A, Batterham RL, Smith GD, Deloukas P, Heijmans BT, Herder C, Hofman A, Lindgren CM, Milani L, van der Harst P, Peters A, Illig T, Relton CL, Waldenberger M, Järvelin MR, Bollati V, Soong R, Spector TD, Scott J, McCarthy MI, Elliott P, Bell JT, Matullo G, Gieger C, Kooner JS, Grallert H, Chambers JC. Nature 541: 2017 81-86

510

Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of BMI in nine cohorts: Examining the utility of epigenetically predicted BMI.
Do WL, Sun D, Meeks K, Dugué PA, Demerath E, Guan W, Li S, Chen W, Milne R, Adeyemo A, Agyemang C, Nassir R, Manson JE, Shadyab AH, Hou L, Horvath S, Assimes TL, Bhatti P, Jordahl KM, Baccarelli AA, Smith AK, Staimez LR, Stein AD, Whitsel EA, Narayan KMV, Conneely KN. Am J Hum Genet 110: 2023 273-283