Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling in the superior temporal gyrus reveals epigenetic signatures associated with Alzheimer's disease. Homo sapiens

Recent work has identified roles for environmental, genetic and epigenetic factors in AD risk. Motivated by suspected roles for epigenetic modifications in AD, we performed a genome-wide screen of DNA methylation using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 array platform on bulk tissue samples from the superior temporal gyrus (STG) of AD cases and non-demented controls. We paired a sliding window approach with linear models that account for age, gender, ethnicity, and estimated cellular proportions (neuronal vs. glial), to characterize AD-associated differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Overall design: Whole DNA was extracted from STG tissue dissections collected from deceased individuals with and without Alzheimers Disease. DNA was bisulfite converted and global DNA methylation levels were assessed using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip.