Epigenome-Wide Association Analysis Identified Nine Skin DNA Methylation Loci for Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic hyperproliferative and inflammatory skin disease caused by the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. DNA methylation has been linked to psoriasis, but the manner in which this process contributes to the disease is not fully understood. In this study, we carried out a three-stage epigenome-wide association study to identify disease-associated differentially methylated sites using a combination of 262 skin and 48 peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples. We not only revealed genome-wide methylation patterns for psoriasis but also identified strong associations between the skin-specific DNA methylation of nine disease-associated differentially methylated sites and psoriasis (Wilcoxon ranked P-Bonferroni < 0.01; methylation level difference > 0.10). Further analysis revealed that these nine disease-associated differentially methylated sites were not significantly affected by genetic variations, supporting their remarkable contributions to disease status. The expression of CYP2S1, ECE1, EIF2C2, MAN1C1, and DLGAP4 was negatively correlated with DNA methylation. These findings will help us to better understand the molecular mechanism of psoriasis.