Adiposity is associated with DNA methylation profile in adipose tissue

Adiposity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, suggesting an important role for adipose tissue in the development of these conditions. The epigenetic underpinnings of adiposity are not well understood, and studies of DNA methylation in relation to adiposity have rarely focused on target adipose tissue. Objectives were to evaluate whether genome-wide DNA methylation profiles in subcutaneous adipose tissue and peripheral blood leukocytes are associated with measures of adiposity, including central fat mass, body fat distribution and body mass index. Participants were 106 men and women (mean age 47 years) from the New England Family Study. DNA methylation was evaluated using the Infinium HumanMethylation450K BeadChip. Adiposity phenotypes included dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry-assessed android fat mass, android:gynoid fat ratio and trunk:limb fat ratio, as well as body mass index. Adipose tissue genome-wide DNA methylation profiles were associated with all four adiposity phenotypes, after adjusting for race, sex and current smoking (omnibus p-values