ArticlePLoS genetics2021
Assessing the co-variability of DNA methylation across peripheral cells and tissues: Implications for the interpretation of findings in epigenetic epidemiology.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 69 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation identifies shared associations across neurodegenerative disorders.Genome biology · 2021Pooled it
- Epigenetic programming in bronchopulmonary dysplasia: a framework linking early-life exposures to persistent lung disease-a narrative review.Pediatric research · 2026Review
- Review
- A machine learning approach to identify key epigenetic transcripts for ageing research in human blood (Epitage).Biogerontology · 2026Article
- Structural variant discovery and diagnostic impact in rare diseases from short-read and long-read sequencing.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Identification of SENP7 and UTF1/VENTX as new loci influencing clustered protocadherin methylation across blood and brain using a genome-wide association study.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- ReMeDy: A Flexible Statistical Framework For Region-based Detection of DNA Methylation Dysregulation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- DNA methylation as a biomarker of prenatal exposures: current challenges and opportunities.Environmental epigenetics · 2026Review
- Environmental exposures and epigenetic alterations in common chronic diseases: insights and challenges.Environmental epigenetics · 2026Review
- Cell-type-specific DNA methylation dynamics in the prenatal and postnatal human cortex.Cell genomics · 2025Article
- Long read sequencing reveals novel genomic and epigenomic alterations in repetitive regions of high grade serous ovarian cancer.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Mapping the temporal landscape of breast cancer using epigenetic entropy.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Guidance for the design and analysis of cell-type-specific DNA methylation epidemiology studies.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2025Article
- Development and validation of a novel cell type estimation method for targeted bisulfite sequencing data.Epigenomics · 2025Article
- The Multidimensional Dynamic Feedback Model: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding and Managing Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Human genomic regions of systemic interindividual epigenetic variation are implicated in neurodevelopmental and metabolic disorders.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Biological aging of different blood cell types.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Methylation patterns at the adjacent CpG sites within enhancers are a part of cell identity.Epigenetics & chromatin · 2024Article
- Longitudinal changes in DNA methylation associated with clozapine use in treatment-resistant schizophrenia from two international cohorts.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Whole Blood DNA Methylation Changes Are Associated with Anti-TNF Drug Concentration in Patients with Crohn's Disease.Journal of Crohn's & colitis · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Most epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) quantify DNA methylation (DNAm) in peripheral tissues such as whole blood to identify positions in the genome where variation is statistically associated with a trait or exposure. As whole blood comprises a mix of cell types, it is unclear whether trait-associated DNAm variation is specific to an individual cellular population. We collected three peripheral tissues (whole blood, buccal epithelial and nasal epithelial cells) from thirty individuals. Whole blood samples were subsequently processed using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to purify five constituent cell-types (monocytes, granulocytes, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and B cells). DNAm was profiled in all eight sample-types from each individual using the Illumina EPIC array. We identified significant differences in both the level and variability of DNAm between different sample types, and DNAm data-derived estimates of age and smoking were found to differ dramatically across sample types from the same individual. We found that for the majority of loci variation in DNAm in individual blood cell types was only weakly predictive of variance in DNAm measured in whole blood, although the proportion of variance explained was greater than that explained by either buccal or nasal epithelial samples. Covariation across sample types was much higher for DNAm sites influenced by genetic factors. Overall, we observe that DNAm variation in whole blood is additively influenced by a combination of the major blood cell types. For a subset of sites, however, variable DNAm detected in whole blood can be attributed to variation in a single blood cell type providing potential mechanistic insight about EWAS findings. Our results suggest that associations between whole blood DNAm and traits or exposures reflect differences in multiple cell types and our data will facilitate the interpretation of findings in epigenetic epidemiology.
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.