Aberrant DNA methylation of M1-macrophage genes in coronary artery disease

M1 and M2 macrophage balance in atherosclerosis has attracted much interest. Though, it remains unknown how macrophage heterogeneity is regulated. Moreover, the regulation of macrophage polarization and activation also involve DNA methylation. However, it remains ambiguous which genes are under direct regulation by DNA methylation. Our aim was to evaluate the gene-specific promoter DNA methylation status of M1/M2 polarization markers in PBMCs of CAD patients. A case-control study was performed with 25 CAD patients and 25 controls to study the promoter DNA methylation status of STAT1, STAT6, MHC2, IL12b, iNOS, JAK1, JAK2 and SOCS5 using MS-HRM analysis. Our data indicates that there was a clear-cut difference in the pattern of gene-specific promoter DNA methylation of CAD patients in comparison to controls. A significant difference was observed between the percentage methylation of STAT1, IL12b, MHC2, iNOS, JAK1 and JAK2 in CAD patients and control subjects. In conclusion, our data show that MS-HRM assay is a rapid and inexpensive method for qualitatively identifying aberrant gene-specific promoter DNA methylation changes in CAD. Furthermore, we propose that gene-specific promoter DNA methylation based on monocyte/macrophage might aid as diagnostic marker for clinical application or DNA methylation-related drug interventions may offer novel possibilities for atherosclerotic disease management.