Nature Communications (Dec 2019)

Edematous severe acute malnutrition is characterized by hypomethylation of DNA

  • Katharina V. Schulze,
  • Shanker Swaminathan,
  • Sharon Howell,
  • Aarti Jajoo,
  • Natasha C. Lie,
  • Orgen Brown,
  • Roa Sadat,
  • Nancy Hall,
  • Liang Zhao,
  • Kwesi Marshall,
  • Thaddaeus May,
  • Marvin E. Reid,
  • Carolyn Taylor-Bryan,
  • Xueqing Wang,
  • John W. Belmont,
  • Yongtao Guan,
  • Mark J. Manary,
  • Indi Trehan,
  • Colin A. McKenzie,
  • Neil A. Hanchard

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13433-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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The edematous form of severe acute childhood malnutrition (ESAM) presents with more severe multi-organ dysfunction than non-edematous SAM (NESAM). Here the authors assess genome-wide DNA methylation in buccal cells of SAM children and find that ESAM is characterized by hypomethylation at genes associated with disorders of nutrition and metabolism, including fatty liver and diabetes.