Characterization of Whole Genome DNA Methylation Profile Associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in OIF/OEF Veterans. Homo sapiens

Emerging knowledge suggests that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is causally associated with epigenetic changes although its molecular underpinnings are still largely elusive. We postulate that differentially methylated probes mined from peripheral whole blood could be candidates for potential PTSD diagnostic signatures. Working within the Systems Biology PTSD Biomarker Consortium (SBPBC), we investigated a training set comprising of 48 PTSD male veterans (CAPS > 40) and 51 age/ethnicity matched controls (CAPS 40) and 51 age/ethnicity matched controls (CAPS < 20). Agilent whole genome array detected ~5,600 differentially methylated CpG islands (CpGI) annotated to ~2,800 differentially methylated genes (DMG). In this study, further validation was conducted by an independent test set comprising of 31/29 PTSD+/- veteran. Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS); The IP (sample of interest) samples labeled with Cy5 and the WCE (whole cell extract; reference) labeled with Cy3.