Smoking is a risk factor for various disease outcomes and is one of the modifiers of DNA methylation. We aimed to identify smoking-related DNA methylation sites (CpG-sites) and test whether one identified CpG-site is associated with smoking-related traits and pulmonary function. We obtained DNA methylation data of 209 men from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study analyzed by Illumina's HumanMethylation450 array. To identify smoking-related DNA methylation sites, epigenome-wide association analysis of smoking status was conducted, adjusting for age, area, current drinking status, and body mass index. We assessed the association between smoking intensity and DNA methylation of cg05951221 (AHRR), the CpG showing the strongest largest difference in DNA methylation among the 5 hypomethylated CpGs in current smokers compared to never smokers. The association between DNA methylation and pulmonary function was examined longitudinally resulting in a positive association between DNA methylation and forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity, regardless of adjustment for smoking status. This suggests that DNA methylation associates with long-term pulmonary function. Our study contributes to explaining the relationship between smoking and pulmonary function via DNA methylation.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Multi-omic association study identifies DNA methylation-mediated genotype and smoking exposure effects on lung function in children living in urban settings
  Matthew Dapas, Emma E. Thompson, William Wentworth-Sheilds, Selene Clay, Cynthia M. Visness, Agustin Calatroni, Joanne E. Sordillo, Diane R. Gold, Robert A. Wood, Melanie Makhija, Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey, Michael G. Sherenian, Rebecca S. Gruchalla, Mich
  PLOS Genetics.2023; 19(1): e1010594.     CrossRef
• Air flow limitation in smokers – A cause of concern
  Naresh Kumar, Gopal Chawla, Amrit Pal Kansal, Kunal Deokar, Ram Niwas, Nupur Abrol, Shahir Asfahan, Sakshi Garg, Monika Keena
  Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.2022; 11(11): 6807.     CrossRef