DNA Methylation Alterations in Blood Cells of Toddlers with Down Syndrome

Oxana Yu Naumova; Rebecca Lipschutz; Sergey Yu Rychkov; Olga V Zhukova; Elena L Grigorenko

doi:10.3390/genes12081115

DNA Methylation Alterations in Blood Cells of Toddlers with Down Syndrome

Genes (Basel). 2021 Jul 23;12(8):1115. doi: 10.3390/genes12081115.

Authors

Oxana Yu Naumova^{1

2}, Rebecca Lipschutz², Sergey Yu Rychkov¹, Olga V Zhukova¹, Elena L Grigorenko^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Vavilov Institute of General Genetics RAS, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
² Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Saint-Petersburg State University, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia.
⁴ Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Abstract

Recent research has provided evidence on genome-wide alterations in DNA methylation patterns due to trisomy 21, which have been detected in various tissues of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) across different developmental stages. Here, we report new data on the systematic genome-wide DNA methylation perturbations in blood cells of individuals with DS from a previously understudied age group-young children. We show that the study findings are highly consistent with those from the prior literature. In addition, utilizing relevant published data from two other developmental stages, neonatal and adult, we track a quasi-longitudinal trend in the DS-associated DNA methylation patterns as a systematic epigenomic destabilization with age.

Keywords: DNA methylation; Down syndrome; Illumina 450K Human Methylation Array; infants and toddlers; trisomy 21.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child, Preschool
DNA Methylation*
Down Syndrome / blood*
Down Syndrome / genetics
Female
Humans
Male