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Epidemiological investigations show that mosaic loss of chromosome Y (LOY) in leukocytes is associated with earlier mortality and morbidity from many diseases in men. LOY is the most common acquired mutation and is associated with aberrant clonal expansion of cells, yet it remains unclear whether this mosaicism exerts a direct physiological effect. We studied DNA and RNA from leukocytes in sorted- and single-cells in vivo and in vitro. DNA analyses of sorted cells showed that men diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease was primarily affected with LOY in NK cells whereas prostate cancer patients more frequently displayed LOY in CD4 + T cells and granulocytes. Moreover, bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing in leukocytes allowed scoring of LOY from mRNA data and confirmed considerable variation in the rate of LOY across individuals and cell types. LOY-associated transcriptional effect (LATE) was observed in ~ 500 autosomal genes showing dysregulation in leukocytes with LOY. The fraction of LATE genes within specific cell types was substantially larger than the fraction of LATE genes shared between different subsets of leukocytes, suggesting that LOY might have pleiotropic effects. LATE genes are involved in immune functions but also encode proteins with roles in other diverse biological processes. Our findings highlight a surprisingly broad role for chromosome Y, challenging the view of it as a “genetic wasteland”, and support the hypothesis that altered immune function in leukocytes could be a mechanism linking LOY to increased risk for disease., Hanna Davies, Edyta Rychlicka-Buniowska, Jonas Mattisson and Behrooz Torabi Moghadam contributed equally to this work

DNA methylation is a major mechanism involved in the epigenetic state of a cell. It has been observed that the methylation status of certain CpG sites close to or within a gene can directly affect its expression, either by silencing or, in some cases, up-regulating transcription. However, a vertebrate genome contains millions of CpG sites, all of which are potential targets for methylation modification, and the specific effects of most sites has not been characterized to date. To study the complex interplay between methylation status, cellular programs, and the resulting phenotypes, we present PiiL, an interactive gene expression pathway browser, facilitating the analysis through an integrated view of methylation and expression on multiple levels. PiiL allows for specific hypothesis testing by quickly assessing pathways or gene networks, where the data is projected onto pathways that can be downloaded directly from the online KEGG database. PiiL provides a comprehensive set of analysis features, allowing for quickly searching for specific patterns, as well as to examine individual CpG sites and their impact on expression of the host gene and other genes in regulatory networks. To exemplify the power of this approach, we analyzed two types of brain tumors, Glioblastoma multiform and lower grade gliomas. At a glance, we could confirm earlier findings that the predominant methylation and expression patterns separate perfectly by mutations in the IDH genes, rather than by histology. We could also infer the IDH mutation status for samples for which the genotype was not known. By applying different filtering methods, we show that a subset of CpG sites exhibits consistent methylation patterns, and that the status of sites affect the expression of key regulator genes, as well as other genes located downstream in the same pathways. PiiL is implemented in Java with focus on a user-friendly graphical interface. The source code is available under the GPL license from https://gi

Background: DNA methylation plays a key role in developmental processes, which is reflected in changing methylation patterns at specific CpG sites over the lifetime of an individual. The underlying mechanisms are complex and possibly affect multiple genes or entire pathways. Results: We applied a multivariate approach to identify combinations of CpG sites that undergo modifications when transitioning between developmental stages. Monte Carlo feature selection produced a list of ranked and statistically significant CpG sites, while rule-based models allowed for identifying particular methylation changes in these sites. Our rule-based classifier reports combinations of CpG sites, together with changes in their methylation status in the form of easy-to-read IF-THEN rules, which allows for identification of the genes associated with the underlying sites. Conclusion: We utilized machine learning and statistical methods to discretize decision class (age) values to get a general pattern of methylation changes over the lifespan. The CpG sites present in the significant rules were annotated to genes involved in brain formation, general development, as well as genes linked to cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

eSSENCE

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in humans. It can arise from many different cell types, and even cancers originating from the same tissue can constitute a heterogeneous group of diseases. While cytogenetics, the analysis of mutations and karyotypic alterations, has greatly improved the accuracy of diagnosis, it is likely that there are more categories in which cancers can be divided than is known today. Moreover, new biomarkers confirming existing classification schemes are desirable. Here, we interrogated the DNA methylation (DNAm) landscape as a novel indicator for discerning cancer subtypes. We developed and applied an unsupervised method, methylSaguaro, which is based on the combination of a Hidden Markov Model and a Neural Net. We first compared the concept of hypothesizing patterns and grouping to statistical methods that require a priori hypotheses to perform enrichment tests. We then analyzed samples from four cancer groups, Gliomas, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), Renal Cell Carcinomas (RCC), and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). On gliomas and CLL, we confirmed known cancer groupings in DNAm that perfectly correspond to known mutations. On Renal Cell Carcinomas, our method disagrees with the histological classification on 4% of the samples, and finds a novel cluster, suggesting that there might be a novel subtype that was hitherto unknown. On AML, methylSaguaro spreads the samples out on a continuous spectrum, enriching one end with patients assessed as having “poor” risk based on cytogenetics, but indicating that DNAm patterns would suggest a different risk assessment. Since methylSaguaro reports both the patterns and the specific sites behind the signals, we analyzed regions and genes indicative of subtypes across the cancers, revealing 41 genes affected by alterations in more than one cancer. In summary, we expect that DNAm, coupled with a hypothesis-free analysis method, will add to the set of clinical instruments to diagnose, assess

Schizophrenia is common mental disorder with known genetic component involved. Since the association of environmental factors and schizophrenia has been reported, we analyzed a cohort of 75 schizophrenic and 50 control samples to investigate DNA methylation patterns, as one of the key players of epigenetic gene regulation. Here we applied machine-learning and visualization methods, which were shown previously to be successful in detecting and highlighting differentially methylated patterns between cases and controls. On this data set, however, these methods did not uncover any signal discerning schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, suggesting that if a link exists, it is heterogeneous and complex.