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Methylation profiles of COPD small airways

ABSTRACT: Rationale: DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that is highly disrupted in response to cigarette smoke and involved in a wide spectrum of malignant and non-malignant diseases, but surprisingly not previously assessed in small airways of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Small airways are the primary sites of airflow obstruction in COPD. We sought to determine whether DNA methylation patterns are disrupted in small airway epithelia of COPD patients, and evaluate whether changes in gene expression are associated with these disruptions. Methods: Genome-wide methylation and gene expression analysis were performed on small airway epithelial DNA and RNA obtained from the same patient during bronchoscopy, using Illumina's Infinium HM27 and Affymetrix's Genechip Human Gene 1.0 ST arrays. To control for known effects of cigarette smoking on DNA methylation, methylation and gene expression profiles were compared between former smokers (FS) with and without COPD matched for age, pack years and years of smoking cessation. Results: Our results indicate that aberrant DNA methylation is i) a genome-wide phenomenon in small airways of patients with COPD and ii) associated with altered expression of genes and pathways important to COPD, such as the Nrf2 oxidative response pathway. Conclusions: DNA methylation is likely an important mechanism contributing to modulation of genes important to COPD pathology. Since these methylation events may underlie disease-specific gene-expression changes, their characterization is a critical first step towards the development of epigenetic markers and an opportunity for developing novel epigenetic therapeutic interventions for COPD.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE55454 | GEO | 2014/02/28

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA239668

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Rationale: DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that is highly disrupted in response to cigarette smoke and involved in a wide spectrum of malignant and non-malignant diseases, but surprisingly not previously assessed in small airways of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Small airways are the primary sites of airflow obstruction in COPD. We sought to determine whether DNA methylation patterns are disrupted in small airway epithelia of COPD patients, and evaluate whether changes in gene expression are associated with these disruptions. Methods: Genome-wide methylation and gene expression analysis were performed on small airway epithelial DNA and RNA obtained from the same patient during bronchoscopy, using Illumina's Infinium HM27 and Affymetrix's Genechip Human Gene 1.0 ST arrays. To control for known effects of cigarette smoking on DNA methylation, methylation and gene expression profiles were compared between former smokers (FS) with and without COPD matched for age, pack years and years of smoking cessation. Results: Our results indicate that aberrant DNA methylation is i) a genome-wide phenomenon in small airways of patients with COPD and ii) associated with altered expression of genes and pathways important to COPD, such as the Nrf2 oxidative response pathway. Conclusions: DNA methylation is likely an important mechanism contributing to modulation of genes important to COPD pathology. Since these methylation events may underlie disease-specific gene-expression changes, their characterization is a critical first step towards the development of epigenetic markers and an opportunity for developing novel epigenetic therapeutic interventions for COPD. Bisulphite converted DNA from small airway (airways less than <2 mm in diameter) from 38 former smokers: 15 subjects with COPD (post bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio <70% and FEV1 predicted M-bM-^IM-$ 80%) and 21 with normal lung function, were hybridized to the Illumina Infinium 27k Human Methylation Beadchip.

Project description:The apical junctional complex (AJC), composed of tight junctions and adherens junctions, is essential for maintaining epithelial barrier function. Since cigarette smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the major smoking-induced disease, are both associated with increased lung epithelial permeability, we hypothesized that smoking alters the transcriptional program regulating AJC integrity in the small airway epithelium (SAE), the primary site of pathological changes in COPD. Transcriptome analysis revealed a global down-regulation of physiological AJC gene expression in the SAE of healthy smokers (n=53) compared to healthy nonsmokers (n=59), an observation associated with changes in molecular pathways regulating epithelial differentiation such as PTEN signaling and accompanied by induction of cancer-related AJC genes. Genome-wide co-expression analysis identified a smoking-sensitive AJC transcriptional network. The overall expression of AJC-associated genes was further decreased in COPD smokers (n=23). Exposure of human airway epithelial cells to cigarette smoke extract in vitro resulted in down-regulation of several AJC-related genes, accompanied by decreased transepithelial resistance. Thus, cigarette smoking alters the AJC gene expression architecture in the human airway epithelium, providing a molecular basis for the dysregulation of airway epithelial barrier function during the development of smoking-induced lung disease. The apical junctional complex (AJC), composed of tight junctions and adherens junctions, is essential for maintaining epithelial barrier function. Since cigarette smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the major smoking-induced disease, are both associated with increased lung epithelial permeability, we hypothesized that smoking alters the transcriptional program regulating AJC integrity in the small airway epithelium (SAE), the primary site of pathological changes in COPD. In this study, microarray analysis of the SAE obtained from 53 healthy nonsmokers, 59 healthy smokers, and 23 smokers with COPD was performed to determine physiological AJC gene expression architecture in the SAE and its modification by cigarette smoking and during the development of COPD.

Project description:Upregulation of Expression of the Ubiquitin Carboxyl Terminal Hydrolase L1 Gene in Human Airway Epithelium of Cigarette Smokers; The microarray data deposited here is from 11 HG-U133A GeneChips, from 5 normal non-smokers and 6 phenotypic normal smokers, large airways. Samples from the small airways of these individuals have been obtained and analyzed using the HG-U133A GeneChip; the small airway samples are in GEO Accession Number GSE 3320, and the data analysis is described in Harvey, B-G; Heguy, A.; Leopold, P.L.; Carolan, B.; Ferris, B. and Crystal R.G. Modification of Gene Expression of the Small Airway Epithelium in Response to Cigarette Smoking. J. Mol. Med (in press). These data are part of a study aimed at understanding how cigarette smoking modifies neuroendocrine cells, in which microarray analysis with TaqMan confirmation was used to assess airway epithelial samples obtained by fiberoptic bronchoscopy from 81 individuals (normal nonsmokers, normal smokers, smokers with early COPD and smokers with established COPD). Of 11 genes considered to be neuroendocrine cell-specific, only ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1(UCHL1), a member of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway, was consistently upregulated in smokers compared to nonsmokers. Up-regulation of UCHL1 at the protein level was observed with immunohistochemistry of bronchial biopsies of smokers compared to nonsmokers. Interestingly, however, while UCHL1 expression was present only in neuroendocrine cells of the airway epithelium in nonsmokers, UCHL1 expression was also expressed in ciliated epithelial cells in smokers, an intriguing observation in light of recent observations that ciliated cells can are capable of transdifferentiating to other airway epithelium. In the context that UCHL1 is involved in the degradation of unwanted, misfolded or damaged proteins within the cell and is overexpressed in >50% of lung cancers, its overexpression in chronic smokers may represent an early event in the complex transformation from normal epithelium to overt malignancy. Experiment Overall Design: comparison of gene expression in airway epithelial cells of the large airways of phenotypic normal smokers vs normal non-smokers

Project description:Waterpipe (also called hookah, shisha, or narghile) smoking is a common form of tobacco use in the Middle East. Its use is becoming more prevalent in Western societies, especially among young adults as an alternative form of tobacco use to traditional cigarettes. While the risk to cigarette smoking is well documented, the risk to waterpipe smoking is not well defined with limited information on its health impact at the epidemiologic, clinical and biologic levels with respect to lung disease. Based on the knowledge that airway epithelial cell DNA methylation is modified in response to cigarette smoke and in cigarette smoking-related lung diseases, we assessed the impact of light-use water-pipe smoking on DNA methylation of the small airway epithelium (SAE) and whether changes in methylation were linked to the transcriptional output of the cells. Small airway epithelium was obtained from 7 nonsmokers and 7 light-use (2.6 ± 1.7 sessions/wk) waterpipe-only smokers. Genome-wide comparison of SAE DNA methylation of waterpipe smokers to nonsmokers identified 727 probesets differentially methylated (fold-change >1.5, p<0.05) representing 673 unique genes. Dominant pathways associated with these epigenetic changes include those linked to G-protein coupled receptor signaling, aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling and xenobiotic metabolism signaling, all of which have been associated with cigarette smoking and lung disease. Of the genes differentially methylated, 11.3% exhibited a corresponding significant (p<0.05) change in gene expression with enrichment in pathways related to regulation of mRNA translation and protein synthesis (eIF2 signaling and regulation of eIF4 and p70S6K signaling). Overall, these data demonstrate that light-use waterpipe smoking is associated with epigenetic changes and related transcriptional modifications in the SAE, the cell population demonstrating the earliest pathologic abnormalities associated with chronic cigarette smoking. This study demonstrates that light-use waterpipe smoking in young adults is associated with a broad range of genome-wide DNA methylation-related changes of the SAE impacting a number of genes linked to pathways previously associated with cigarette smoking. Further, many of these methylation-related changes correlate with waterpipe smoking-associated changes in the SAE transcriptome. Together, these data add to the accumulating evidence that waterpipe smoking is harmful, and may lead to lung disease.

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Methylation profiles of COPD small airways

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