Methylation analysis of patients with COVID-19 and Clonal Hematopoiesis

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, albeit with considerable heterogeneity among affected individuals. Emerging evidence points towards an important role of preexisting host factors, such as a deregulated inflammatory response at the time of infection. Here, we demonstrate the negative impact of clonal hematopoiesis, a prevalent clonal disorder of ageing individuals, on COVID-19-related cytokine release severity and mortality. In this study we perform use the Illumina MethylationEPIC array to quantify methylation levels in PBMCs from COVID19 patients and patients with clonal hematopoiesis. DNA was isolated from purified PBMCs from 18 patients. There are three sample groups: 5 individuals with clonal hematopoiesis, 4 individuals with COVID-19, and 9 individuals with both clonal hematopoiesis and COVID-19. Samples were processed for DNA methylation using Tecan TrueMethyl oxBS module.