Publication
Cell-type-specific methylome-wide association studies implicate neurodegenerative processes and neuroimmune communication in major depressive disorder
Publisher:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date:
03-10-2018
DOI:
10.1101/432088
Abstract: We studied the methylome in three collections of human postmortem brain (N=206) and blood s les (N=1,132) of subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD) and controls. Using an epigenomic deconvolution approach we performed cell-type-specific methylome-wide association studies (MWAS) within sub-populations of neurons/glia and granulocytes/T-cells/B-cells/monocytes for bulk brain and blood data, respectively. Multiple MWAS findings in neurons/glia replicated across brain collections (ORs=509-538, P-values ×10 −5 ) and were reproducible in an array-based MWAS of sorted neurons/glia from a fourth brain collection (N=58). Pathway analyses implicated p75 NTR /VEGF signaling, neurodegeneration, and blood-brain barrier perturbation. Cell-type-specific analysis in blood identified associations in CD14+ monocytes -- a cell type strongly linked to neuroimmune processes and stress. Top results in neurons/glia/bulk and monocytes were enriched for genes supported by GWAS for MDD (ORs=2.02-2.87, P-values=0.003 to ×10 −5 ), neurodegeneration and other psychiatric disorders. In summary, we identified novel MDD-methylation associations by using epigenomic deconvolution that provided important mechanistic insights for the disease.