Association between DNA methylation in obesity-related genes and body mass index percentile in adolescents

Childhood obesity remains an epidemic in the U.S. and worldwide. However, little is understood regarding the epigenetic basis of obesity in adolescents. To investigate the cross-sectional association between DNA methylation level in obesity-related genes and body mass index (BMI) percentile, data from 263 adolescents in the population-based Penn State Child Cohort follow-up exam was analysed. Using DNA extracted from peripheral leukocytes, epigenome-wide single nucleotide resolution of DNA methylation in cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites and surrounding regions was obtained. We used multivariable-adjusted linear regression models to assess the association between site-specific methylation level and age- and sex-specific BMI percentile. Hypergeometric and permutation tests were used to determine if obesity-related genes were significantly enriched among all intragenic sites that achieved a p < 0.05 throughout the epigenome. Among the 5,669 sites related to BMI percentile with p < 0.05, 28 were identified within obesity-related genes. Obesity-related genes were significantly enriched among 103,466 intragenic sites (P(hypergeometric) = 0.006; P(permutation) = 0.006). Moreover, increased methylation on one site within SIM1 was significantly related to higher BMI percentile (P = 4.2E-05). If externally validated, our data would suggest that DNA methylation in obesity-related genes may relate to obesity risk in adolescents.