Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infection
Abstract RT-PCR is the foremost clinical test for diagnosis of COVID-19. Unfortunately, PCR-based testing has limitations and may not result in a positive test early in the course of infection before symptoms develop. Enveloped RNA viruses, such as coronaviruses, alter peripheral blood methylation a...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
BMC
2022-07-01
|
Series: | Human Genomics |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40246-022-00401-3 |
_version_ | 1828352492238274560 |
---|---|
author | Cosby G. Arnold Iain Konigsberg Jason Y. Adams Sunita Sharma Neil Aggarwal Andrew Hopkinson Alexis Vest Monica Campbell Meher Boorgula Ivana Yang Christopher Gignoux Kathleen C. Barnes Andrew A. Monte |
author_facet | Cosby G. Arnold Iain Konigsberg Jason Y. Adams Sunita Sharma Neil Aggarwal Andrew Hopkinson Alexis Vest Monica Campbell Meher Boorgula Ivana Yang Christopher Gignoux Kathleen C. Barnes Andrew A. Monte |
author_sort | Cosby G. Arnold |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Abstract RT-PCR is the foremost clinical test for diagnosis of COVID-19. Unfortunately, PCR-based testing has limitations and may not result in a positive test early in the course of infection before symptoms develop. Enveloped RNA viruses, such as coronaviruses, alter peripheral blood methylation and DNA methylation signatures may characterize asymptomatic versus symptomatic infection. We used Illumina’s Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip array to profile peripheral blood samples from 164 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR, of whom 8 had no symptoms. Epigenome-wide association analysis identified 10 methylation sites associated with infection and a quantile–quantile plot showed little inflation. These preliminary results suggest that differences in methylation patterns may distinguish asymptomatic from symptomatic infection. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:54:27Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-650e0c2aa78c4e518114418ee2506c81 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1479-7364 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:54:27Z |
publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
publisher | BMC |
record_format | Article |
series | Human Genomics |
spelling | doaj.art-650e0c2aa78c4e518114418ee2506c812022-12-22T02:19:09ZengBMCHuman Genomics1479-73642022-07-011611610.1186/s40246-022-00401-3Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infectionCosby G. Arnold0Iain Konigsberg1Jason Y. Adams2Sunita Sharma3Neil Aggarwal4Andrew Hopkinson5Alexis Vest6Monica Campbell7Meher Boorgula8Ivana Yang9Christopher Gignoux10Kathleen C. Barnes11Andrew A. Monte12Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, DavisDivision of Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDivision of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of California, DavisDivision of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDivision of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDivision of Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDivision of Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDivision of Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDivision of Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDivision of Biomedical Informatics and Personalized Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical CampusAbstract RT-PCR is the foremost clinical test for diagnosis of COVID-19. Unfortunately, PCR-based testing has limitations and may not result in a positive test early in the course of infection before symptoms develop. Enveloped RNA viruses, such as coronaviruses, alter peripheral blood methylation and DNA methylation signatures may characterize asymptomatic versus symptomatic infection. We used Illumina’s Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip array to profile peripheral blood samples from 164 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR, of whom 8 had no symptoms. Epigenome-wide association analysis identified 10 methylation sites associated with infection and a quantile–quantile plot showed little inflation. These preliminary results suggest that differences in methylation patterns may distinguish asymptomatic from symptomatic infection.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40246-022-00401-3SARS-CoV-2COVID-19MethylationEpigenetics |
spellingShingle | Cosby G. Arnold Iain Konigsberg Jason Y. Adams Sunita Sharma Neil Aggarwal Andrew Hopkinson Alexis Vest Monica Campbell Meher Boorgula Ivana Yang Christopher Gignoux Kathleen C. Barnes Andrew A. Monte Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infection Human Genomics SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 Methylation Epigenetics |
title | Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infection |
title_full | Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infection |
title_fullStr | Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infection |
title_full_unstemmed | Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infection |
title_short | Epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic COVID-19 infection |
title_sort | epigenetics may characterize asymptomatic covid 19 infection |
topic | SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 Methylation Epigenetics |
url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40246-022-00401-3 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT cosbygarnold epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT iainkonigsberg epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT jasonyadams epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT sunitasharma epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT neilaggarwal epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT andrewhopkinson epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT alexisvest epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT monicacampbell epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT meherboorgula epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT ivanayang epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT christophergignoux epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT kathleencbarnes epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection AT andrewamonte epigeneticsmaycharacterizeasymptomaticcovid19infection |