A combined epigenome- and transcriptome-wide association study of the oral masticatory mucosa assigns CYP1B1 a central role for epithelial health in smokers

Healthy ex vivo biopsies from masticatory mucosa from 17 current and 21 never smokers were analysed using whole transcriptome RNA sequencing (16 mio reads/sample), showing significantly increased expression of CYP1B1 in smokers compared to non-smokers (p?=?2.2?×?10-14), together with 13 significantly upregulated transcripts. Six transcripts were significantly downregulated. Overall design: mRNA profiles of ex vivo masticatory mucosa from 17 current smokers and 21 never smokers