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Epigenetic factors may affect radiographic progression in ankylosing spondylitis
Smoking and multiple epigenetic variables were found to be associated with radiographic progression in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, according to recently published data.
A cohort of 76 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was studied, including 16 women, 32 smokers and 56 patients who were HLA-B27-positive. Each had serial radiographs taken an average of 3 years apart. Thirty-five of the patients had a change in the Modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondylitis Spinal Score (mSASSS), with a mean radiographic progression of 0.99 mSASSS per year.
An EpiTyper (Agena Bioscience) was used to develop DNA methylation experiments on 17 CpG sites, which were executed on a Sequenom MassArray 4 system. The data were statistically analyzed, and goodness of fit was measured by the Akaike information criterion, with seven sites demonstrating the best goodness of fit. The analysis excluded methylation sites that were missing more than 15% of data.
Linear regression revealed that a higher methylation score was associated with less radiographic progression, and multiple linear regression adjusted for age of onset and sex showed that a high methylation score was associated with less radiographic progression in smokers only. A trend toward increased radiographic progression in smokers did not reach statistical significance, according to the researchers. – by Shirley Pulawski
Reference:
O’Rielly DD, et al. Paper #OP0206. Presented at: European League Against Rheumatism Annual European Congress of Rheumatology; June 10-13, 2015; Rome.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.