Genome-wide blood DNA methylation profiling in birch pollen allergic
patients undergoing allergen-specific immunotherapy
Abstract
Background: Until now, no epigenome-wide association studies
(EWAS) has investigated the impact of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) on
DNA methylation in a longitudinal set-up. Herein, we investigated
whether differences in DNA methylation occur in birch pollen allergic
patients undergoing six months of birch pollen AIT, assessed alterations
in methylation-based blood cell type composition, and correlated DNA
methylation to serological AIT biomarkers. Methods: We
performed genome-wide DNA-methylation analysis on bisulfite-converted
DNA derived from whole blood samples of 16 birch pollen-allergic
patients (pre-/post-birch pollen AIT) and 15 placebo (pre-/post-placebo
treatment). Results: Our analysis identified cg22187251,
located within a regulatory region upstream of the glucosaminyl
(N-acetyl) transferase 2 ( GCNT2) gene and cg22336863 upstream of
the transcription start site of actin binding rho activating protein (
ABRA), as differentially methylated. DNA methylation levels of
cg22187251 in post-AIT-treated patients approximated those observed in a
non-allergic reference cohort. Functional assays revealed that this
region exhibits methylation-dependent promoter and enhancer activity. We
identified differentially methylated sites within the HLA gene complex,
and an AIT-specific increase of CD8+ T cell populations accompanied by a
decrease in NK cell proportion. Moderate to strong correlations with
clinical biomarkers (such as specific IgG 4) were
observed for 46% of the top 100 differentially methylated sites.
Conclusions: GCNT2 and ABRA are implicated in
Rho-signaling, a pathway involved in Th2 differentiation. GCNT2
modulates the SMAD-dependent TGF-β pathway, indicating a role in
mediating AIT-induced immunotolerance. We provide evidence of DNA
methylation within a regulatory region of a relevant gene, potentially
restoring methylation levels to a non-allergic state.