The blood genome-wide DNA methylation analysis reveals novel epigenetic changes in human heart failure

B. Li, Z.-H. Feng, H. Sun, Z.-H. Zhao, S.-B. Yang, P. Yang

Department of Cardiology, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China. pyang@jlu.edu.cn

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• Cardiology

OBJECTIVE: Epigenetic mechanisms, such as microRNA, histone modification, and DNA methylation, are critical for dysregulated gene expression in heart failure (HF). However, the relationship between DNA methylation and dysregulated gene expression of blood leukocytes during HF remains unclear.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, DNA methylation status and gene expression in blood leukocytes from ischemic end-stage cardiomyopathy patients were compared to normal controls by using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS), and the results were validated by quantitative MassARRAY analysis and RT-qPCR.

RESULTS: Three differentially methylated genes between two groups were identified. Furthermore, the differential expression of each corresponding gene was found to be correlated with differential DNA methylation. Diverse blood leukocyte DNA methylations existed in HF patients, which were correlated with differential expression of corresponding genes.

CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, detecting DNA methylation in blood leukocytes could be an attractive approach for HF study.

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