Disease-associated DNA methylation signatures in esophageal biopsies of children diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a leading cause of dysphagia and food impaction in children and adults. The diagnosis relies on histological examination of esophageal mucosal biopsies and requires the presence of > 15 eosinophils per high-powered field. Potential pitfalls include the impact of biopsy sectioning as well as regional variations of eosinophil density. We performed genome-wide DNA methylation analyses on 30 esophageal biopsies obtained from children diagnosed with EoE (n = 7) and matched controls (n = 13) at the time of diagnosis as well as following first-line treatment. Analyses revealed striking disease-associated differences in mucosal DNA methylation profiles in children diagnosed with EoE, highlighting the potential for these epigenetic signatures to be developed into clinically applicable biomarkers.
['Strisciuglio|Caterina|C|', 'Payne|Felicity|F|', 'Nayak|Komal|K|', 'Andreozzi|Marialuisa|M|', 'Vitale|Alessandra|A|', 'Miele|Erasmo|E|', 'Zilbauer|Matthias|M|0000-0002-7272-0547']
DNA methylation Eosinophilic Esophagitis Mucosal biopsy Epigenetics