Powell-Wiley: The Washington DC Cardiovascular Health and Needs Assessment

Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling of blood of participants from a high CVD risk community-based cohort of African American individuals from Washington D.C. Chronic stress increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and amygdalar activity (AmygA), a known marker of chronic stress which has been associated with subclinical CVD. Previous research suggests a plausible connection between AmygA, hematopoietic tissue activity, arterial inflammation, and cardiovascular events. There is a paucity of data on the relationships between AmygA, hematopoietic activity, and epigenomics modifications through deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation among racial and ethnic minorities. We investigated the association between AmygA and spleen (SpleenA) and bone marrow activity (BMA) as well as DNA methylation at genes previously associated with stress. Participants included in the study were from a high CVD risk community-based cohort of African American individuals from Washington D.C. AmygA was measured by aortic uptake of 18Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) on Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography and calculated as standardized uptake values (SUVs). SpleenA and BMA were calculated as SUVs from regions of interest within the spleen and vertebrae, respectively. Standardized beta coefficients (β ) and p-values were calculated from linear regression models adjusted for body mass index and 10-year predicted atherosclerotic CVD risk. Bisulfite converted DNA from Buffy Coats were hybridized to the Illumina MethylationEPIC Beadchip