Cell-composition effects in the analysis of DNA methylation array data: a mathematical perspective.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The impact of cell-composition effects in analysis of DNA methylation data is now widely appreciated. With the availability of a reference data set consisting of DNA methylation measurements on isolated cell types, it is possible to impute cell proportions and adjust for them, but there is increasing interest in methods that adjust for cell composition effects when reference sets are incomplete or unavailable.

Results

In this article we present a theoretical basis for one such method, showing that the total effect of a phenotype on DNA methylation can be decomposed into orthogonal components, one representing the effect of phenotype on proportions of major cell types, the other representing either subtle effects in composition or global effects at focused loci, an

SUBMITTER: Houseman EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4392865 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature