Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis in primary antiphospholipid syndrome neutrophils

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by thromboembolic events and pregnancy loss. We sought to characterize the DNA methylation profile of primary APS in comparison to healthy controls and individuals with SLE. Illumina methylation array of genomic DNA from neutrophils extracted from whole blood from 10 antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) patients and 12 healthy controls (CON). Initially, 12 participants with primary APS were recruited from the University of Michigan rheumatology clinics. All met the Sydney APS Classification Criteria. From this group, 10 were successfully run on the DNA methylation array, and as such the final primary APS cohort was comprised of these 10 individuals. A total of 12 controls were matched to the original 12 primary APS participants by age (± 5 years), sex, and ethnicity. All participants in both groups were of European-American ethnicity.