Abstract
Background: Asthma is a complex pulmonary inflammatory disease which is
common among older adults.Aging-related alterations have also been found
in structural cells and immune cells of asthma patients. Of note, DNA
methylation have been proven to be play a critical mechanism for
age-related gene expression changes However, the methylation changes of
aging-related genes in asthma patients is still obscure. Methods: First,
changes in DNAm and gene expression were detected with multiple targeted
bisulfite enrichment sequencing and qPCR in peripheral blood of 51
healthy controls and 55 asthmatic patients. Secondly, the correlation
between the DNAm levels of specific altered CpG sites and the pulmonary
function indicators of asthma patients was evaluated. Lastly, ROC curve
and PCA were used to identify the feasibility of the candidate CpG sites
as biomarkers for asthma. Results: Compared with HCs, there was a
differential mRNA expression for 9 aging-related gene in peripheral
blood of asthma patients. Besides, the methylation level of the 9
aging-related genes were also altered, and a total of 68 CpG sites were
associated with the severity of asthma. Moreover, ROC curve and PCA
analysis showed that the candidate differential methylation sites can be
used as potential biomarkers for asthma. Conclusions: In summary, this
study confirmed the differentially expressed mRNA and aberrant DNAm
level of aging-related genes in asthma patients. The differential DMSs
are associated with the clinical evaluation indicators of asthma, which
indicate the involvement of aging-related genes in the pathogenesis of
asthma and provide some new possible biomarker for asthma.