Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Feb;41(1):210-7.
doi: 10.1093/ije/dys020.

Global LINE-1 DNA methylation is associated with blood glycaemic and lipid profiles

Mark S Pearce  1 , James C McConnell, Catherine Potter, Laura M Barrett, Louise Parker, John C Mathers, Caroline L Relton
Affiliations

Global LINE-1 DNA methylation is associated with blood glycaemic and lipid profiles

Mark S Pearce et al. Int J Epidemiol. 2012 Feb.

Erratum in

  • Int J Epidemiol. 2013 Jun;42(3):919

Abstract

Background: Patterns of DNA methylation change with age and these changes are believed to be associated with the development of common complex diseases. The hypothesis that Long Interspersed Nucleotide Element 1 (LINE-1) DNA methylation (an index of global DNA methylation) is associated with biomarkers of metabolic health was investigated in this study.

Methods: Global LINE-1 DNA methylation was quantified by pyrosequencing in blood-derived DNA samples from 228 individuals, aged 49-51 years, from the Newcastle Thousand Families Study (NTFS). Associations between log-transformed LINE-1 DNA methylation levels and anthropometric and blood biochemical measurements, including triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, fasting glucose and insulin secretion and resistance were examined.

Results: Linear regression, after adjustment for sex, demonstrated positive associations between log-transformed LINE-1 DNA methylation and fasting glucose {coefficient 2.80 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39-5.22]}, total cholesterol [4.76 (95% CI 1.43-8.10)], triglycerides [3.83 (95% CI 1.30-6.37)] and LDL-cholesterol [5.38 (95% CI 2.12-8.64)] concentrations. A negative association was observed between log-transformed LINE-1 methylation and both HDL cholesterol concentration [-1.43 (95% CI -2.38 to -0.48)] and HDL:LDL ratio [-1.06 (95% CI -1.76 to -0.36)]. These coefficients reflect the millimoles per litre change in biochemical measurements per unit increase in log-transformed LINE-1 methylation.

Conclusions: These novel associations between global LINE-1 DNA methylation and blood glycaemic and lipid profiles highlight a potential role for epigenetic biomarkers as predictors of metabolic disease and may be relevant to future diagnosis, prevention and treatment of this group of disorders. Further work is required to establish the role of confounding and reverse causation in the observed associations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Rakyan VK, Preis J, Morgan HD, Whitelaw E. The marks, mechanisms and memory of epigenetic states in mammals. Biochem J. 2001;356:1–10. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Waterland RA, Jirtle RL. Transposable elements: targets for early nutritional effects on epigenetic gene regulation. Mol Cell Biol. 2003;23:5293–300. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Belancio VP, Roy-Engel AM, Pochampally RR, Deininger P. Somatic expression of LINE-1 elements in human tissues. Nucleic Acids Res. 2010;38:3909–22. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bollati V, Schwatz J, Wright R, et al. Decline in genomic DNA methylation through aging in a cohort of elderly subjects. Mech Ageing Dev. 2009;130:234–39. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wu HC, Delgado-Cruzata L, Flom JD, et al. Global methylation profiles in DNA from different blood cell types. Epigenetics. 2011;6:76–85. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

-