title: Epigenome-wide association studies for common human diseases.
abstract: Despite the success of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in identifying loci associated with common diseases, a substantial proportion of the causality remains unexplained. Recent advances in genomic technologies have placed us in a position to initiate large-scale studies of human disease-associated epigenetic variation, specifically variation in DNA methylation. Such epigenome-wide association studies (EWASs) present novel opportunities but also create new challenges that are not encountered in GWASs. We discuss EWAS design, cohort and sample selections, statistical significance and power, confounding factors and follow-up studies. We also discuss how integration of EWASs with GWASs can help to dissect complex GWAS haplotypes for functional analysis.
authors: Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK. v.rakyan@qmul.ac.uk
authors: Vardhman K
authors: VK
authors: Rakyan
authors: Thomas A
authors: TA
authors: Down
authors: David J
authors: DJ
authors: Balding
authors: Stephan
authors: S
authors: Beck
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D019175:DNA Methylation; D057890:Epigenomics / Q000379:methods*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015894:Genome, Human; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods*; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers