Epigenetic Regulation of IL17RC in Age-related Macular Degeneration (MeDIP-chip). Homo sapiens

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly population worldwide. Recent studies have demonstrated strong genetic associations between AMD and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within genes such as CFH and HTRA1. However, we found monozygotic twins had discordant AMD phenotypes (one with disease, the other without disease), suggesting that an epigenetic mechanism may control the pathogenesis of AMD. We obtained genomic DNA from the twins' peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and subjected it to DNA methylation-chip analysis (MeDIP-chip) that profiled genome-wide DNA methylation patterns on promoters of all genes and microRNAs. Our MeDIP-chip analysis identified 256 genes with hypo-methylated promoters only in the twins with AMD and 744 genes with hyper-methylated promoters only in the twins with AMD. Importantly, the promoter region of IL17RC was associated with hypo-methylated CpG sites only in the twins with AMD but not in the twins without AMD. Overall design: Three pairs of twins with discordant AMD phenotypes. MeDIP-chip analysis of DNA methylation patterns in PBMCs.