ArticleClinical epigenetics2017
What's in a name? Context-dependent significance of 'global' methylation measures in human health and disease.
Article in Clinical epigenetics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Role of DNA Methylation in Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in neurology · 2020Pooled it
- Blood DNA methylation and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of four prospective cohort studies.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2019Pooled it
- Plasmonic Molecular Entrapment for Label-Free Methylated DNA Detection and Machine-Learning Assisted Quantification.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Focus on Cell Apoptosis, Pyroptosis and Ferroptosis to Explore Strategic Breakthrough for GDM.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Review
- Select Early-Life Environmental Exposures and DNA Methylation in the Placenta.Current environmental health reports · 2023Review
- Utility of DNA Methylation as a Biomarker in Aging and Alzheimer's Disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease reports · 2023Review
- Metals Exposures and DNA Methylation: Current Evidence and Future Directions.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
- Fine-grained investigation of the relationship between human nutrition and global DNA methylation patterns.European journal of nutrition · 2022Article
- The role of maternal DNA methylation in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes.Frontiers in clinical diabetes and healthcare · 2022Review
- The Placenta as a Target of Epigenetic Alterations in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Potential Implications for the Offspring.Epigenomes · 2021Review
- Prenatal Multivitamin Use andInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- The DNA methylation landscape in cancer.Essays in biochemistry · 2019Review
- DNA methylation-based biological age, genome-wide average DNA methylation, and conventional breast cancer risk factors.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Socioeconomic status and DNA methylation from birth through mid-childhood: a prospective study in Project Viva.Epigenomics · 2019Article
- Effects of developmental lead exposure on the hippocampal methylome: Influences of sex and timing and level of exposure.Toxicology letters · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The study of DNA methylation in development and disease has 'exploded' as a field in recent years, with three major classes of measurement now routine. These encompass (i) locus-specific, (ii) genome-scale/wide and (iii) 'global' methylation approaches. Measures of global methylation refer to the level of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) content in a sample relative to total cytosine. Despite this, several other measures are often referred to as 'global', with the underlying assumption that they accurately reflect 5mC content. The two most common surrogate, or proxy, measures include generating a mean or median methylation value from (i) the average measure in thousands of highly repetitive genomic elements and (ii) many thousands to several million primarily unique CpG sites throughout the genome. Numerous lines of evidence suggest the underlying assumption of equivalence of these measures is flawed, with considerable variation in the regulation of different 'flavours' of DNA methylation throughout the genome depending on cell type, differentiation and disease state. As such, the regulation of methylation 'types' is often uncoupled. The emerging picture suggests that no approach can accurately detect all biologically important differences in 5mC variation and distribution in all instances, with this needing to be ascertained on a case-by-case basis. Thus, it is important to clearly elaborate the genomic context and content of DNA methylation being analysed, the sample and developmental stage in which it is being examined and to remember that in most instances, the most common measures are not a true representation of 'global' 5mC content as orginally defined.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.