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- Loyfer, N, et al.
(author)
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A DNA methylation atlas of normal human cell types
- 2023
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 613:79447943, s. 355-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- DNA methylation is a fundamental epigenetic mark that governs gene expression and chromatin organization, thus providing a window into cellular identity and developmental processes1. Current datasets typically include only a fraction of methylation sites and are often based either on cell lines that underwent massive changes in culture or on tissues containing unspecified mixtures of cells2–5. Here we describe a human methylome atlas, based on deep whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, allowing fragment-level analysis across thousands of unique markers for 39 cell types sorted from 205 healthy tissue samples. Replicates of the same cell type are more than 99.5% identical, demonstrating the robustness of cell identity programmes to environmental perturbation. Unsupervised clustering of the atlas recapitulates key elements of tissue ontogeny and identifies methylation patterns retained since embryonic development. Loci uniquely unmethylated in an individual cell type often reside in transcriptional enhancers and contain DNA binding sites for tissue-specific transcriptional regulators. Uniquely hypermethylated loci are rare and are enriched for CpG islands, Polycomb targets and CTCF binding sites, suggesting a new role in shaping cell-type-specific chromatin looping. The atlas provides an essential resource for study of gene regulation and disease-associated genetic variants, and a wealth of potential tissue-specific biomarkers for use in liquid biopsies.
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- Moss, J, et al.
(author)
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Comprehensive human cell-type methylation atlas reveals origins of circulating cell-free DNA in health and disease
- 2018
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In: Nature communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 9:1, s. 5068-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Methylation patterns of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) contain rich information about recent cell death events in the body. Here, we present an approach for unbiased determination of the tissue origins of cfDNA, using a reference methylation atlas of 25 human tissues and cell types. The method is validated using in silico simulations as well as in vitro mixes of DNA from different tissue sources at known proportions. We show that plasma cfDNA of healthy donors originates from white blood cells (55%), erythrocyte progenitors (30%), vascular endothelial cells (10%) and hepatocytes (1%). Deconvolution of cfDNA from patients reveals tissue contributions that agree with clinical findings in sepsis, islet transplantation, cancer of the colon, lung, breast and prostate, and cancer of unknown primary. We propose a procedure which can be easily adapted to study the cellular contributors to cfDNA in many settings, opening a broad window into healthy and pathologic human tissue dynamics.
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