HGG Advances (Jan 2022)

Novel diagnostic DNA methylation episignatures expand and refine the epigenetic landscapes of Mendelian disorders

  • Michael A. Levy,
  • Haley McConkey,
  • Jennifer Kerkhof,
  • Mouna Barat-Houari,
  • Sara Bargiacchi,
  • Elisa Biamino,
  • María Palomares Bralo,
  • Gerarda Cappuccio,
  • Andrea Ciolfi,
  • Angus Clarke,
  • Barbara R. DuPont,
  • Mariet W. Elting,
  • Laurence Faivre,
  • Timothy Fee,
  • Robin S. Fletcher,
  • Florian Cherik,
  • Aidin Foroutan,
  • Michael J. Friez,
  • Cristina Gervasini,
  • Sadegheh Haghshenas,
  • Benjamin A. Hilton,
  • Zandra Jenkins,
  • Simranpreet Kaur,
  • Suzanne Lewis,
  • Raymond J. Louie,
  • Silvia Maitz,
  • Donatella Milani,
  • Angela T. Morgan,
  • Renske Oegema,
  • Elsebet Østergaard,
  • Nathalie Ruiz Pallares,
  • Maria Piccione,
  • Simone Pizzi,
  • Astrid S. Plomp,
  • Cathryn Poulton,
  • Jack Reilly,
  • Raissa Relator,
  • Rocio Rius,
  • Stephen Robertson,
  • Kathleen Rooney,
  • Justine Rousseau,
  • Gijs W.E. Santen,
  • Fernando Santos-Simarro,
  • Josephine Schijns,
  • Gabriella Maria Squeo,
  • Miya St John,
  • Christel Thauvin-Robinet,
  • Giovanna Traficante,
  • Pleuntje J. van der Sluijs,
  • Samantha A. Vergano,
  • Niels Vos,
  • Kellie K. Walden,
  • Dimitar Azmanov,
  • Tugce Balci,
  • Siddharth Banka,
  • Jozef Gecz,
  • Peter Henneman,
  • Jennifer A. Lee,
  • Marcel M.A.M. Mannens,
  • Tony Roscioli,
  • Victoria Siu,
  • David J. Amor,
  • Gareth Baynam,
  • Eric G. Bend,
  • Kym Boycott,
  • Nicola Brunetti-Pierri,
  • Philippe M. Campeau,
  • John Christodoulou,
  • David Dyment,
  • Natacha Esber,
  • Jill A. Fahrner,
  • Mark D. Fleming,
  • David Genevieve,
  • Kristin D. Kerrnohan,
  • Alisdair McNeill,
  • Leonie A. Menke,
  • Giuseppe Merla,
  • Paolo Prontera,
  • Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg,
  • Charles Schwartz,
  • Steven A. Skinner,
  • Roger E. Stevenson,
  • Antonio Vitobello,
  • Marco Tartaglia,
  • Marielle Alders,
  • Matthew L. Tedder,
  • Bekim Sadikovic

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 1
p. 100075

Abstract

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Summary: Overlapping clinical phenotypes and an expanding breadth and complexity of genomic associations are a growing challenge in the diagnosis and clinical management of Mendelian disorders. The functional consequences and clinical impacts of genomic variation may involve unique, disorder-specific, genomic DNA methylation episignatures. In this study, we describe 19 novel episignature disorders and compare the findings alongside 38 previously established episignatures for a total of 57 episignatures associated with 65 genetic syndromes. We demonstrate increasing resolution and specificity ranging from protein complex, gene, sub-gene, protein domain, and even single nucleotide-level Mendelian episignatures. We show the power of multiclass modeling to develop highly accurate and disease-specific diagnostic classifiers. This study significantly expands the number and spectrum of disorders with detectable DNA methylation episignatures, improves the clinical diagnostic capabilities through the resolution of unsolved cases and the reclassification of variants of unknown clinical significance, and provides further insight into the molecular etiology of Mendelian conditions.

Keywords