Variability of Methylation Profiles of CpG Sites in microrNA Genes in Leukocytes and Vascular Tissues of Patients with Atherosclerosis

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A. N. Kucher^1,2*, M. S. Nazarenko^1*, A. V. Markov¹, I. A. Koroleva¹, and O. L. Barbarash³

¹Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 634050 Tomsk, Russia; E-mail: aksana.kucher@medgenetics.ru

²National Research Tomsk State University, 634050 Tomsk, Russia

³Research Institute for Complex Issues of Cardiovascular Diseases, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, 650002 Kemerovo, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received December 15, 2016; Revision received February 15, 2017

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In this study, we for the first time described the variability of methylation levels of 71 CpG sites in microRNA genes in leukocytes and blood vessels (coronary artery atherosclerotic plaques, intact internal thoracic arteries, and great saphenous veins) in patients with atherosclerosis using the Infinium HumanMethylation27 BeadChip microarray. Most of the analyzed CpG sites were characterized by the low variability, and most of these low-variable sites were hypomethylated in all tissue samples. CpG sites in coronary artery atherosclerotic plaques and leukocytes were similar in their methylation status. The highest variability of CpG methylation levels between different tissues was found for the CpG sites of the MIR10B gene; the methylation levels of these sites in leukocytes and atherosclerotic arteries were lower than in intact blood vessels. We also found that several cardiovascular disease risk factors, as well as medications, might affect methylation levels of CpG sites in microRNAs.

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KEY WORDS: atherosclerosis, microRNA, methylation

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297917060062

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