1
|
Essers R, Lebedev IN, Kurg A, Fonova EA, Stevens SJC, Koeck RM, von Rango U, Brandts L, Deligiannis SP, Nikitina TV, Sazhenova EA, Tolmacheva EN, Kashevarova AA, Fedotov DA, Demeneva VV, Zhigalina DI, Drozdov GV, Al-Nasiry S, Macville MVE, van den Wijngaard A, Dreesen J, Paulussen A, Hoischen A, Brunner HG, Salumets A, Zamani Esteki M. Prevalence of chromosomal alterations in first-trimester spontaneous pregnancy loss. Nat Med 2023; 29:3233-3242. [PMID: 37996709 PMCID: PMC10719097 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02645-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
Pregnancy loss is often caused by chromosomal abnormalities of the conceptus. The prevalence of these abnormalities and the allocation of (ab)normal cells in embryonic and placental lineages during intrauterine development remain elusive. In this study, we analyzed 1,745 spontaneous pregnancy losses and found that roughly half (50.4%) of the products of conception (POCs) were karyotypically abnormal, with maternal and paternal age independently contributing to the increased genomic aberration rate. We applied genome haplarithmisis to a subset of 94 pregnancy losses with normal parental and POC karyotypes. Genotyping of parental DNA as well as POC extra-embryonic mesoderm and chorionic villi DNA, representing embryonic and trophoblastic tissues, enabled characterization of the genomic landscape of both lineages. Of these pregnancy losses, 35.1% had chromosomal aberrations not previously detected by karyotyping, increasing the rate of aberrations of pregnancy losses to 67.8% by extrapolation. In contrast to viable pregnancies where mosaic chromosomal abnormalities are often restricted to chorionic villi, such as confined placental mosaicism, we found a higher degree of mosaic chromosomal imbalances in extra-embryonic mesoderm rather than chorionic villi. Our results stress the importance of scrutinizing the full allelic architecture of genomic abnormalities in pregnancy loss to improve clinical management and basic research of this devastating condition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rick Essers
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Igor N Lebedev
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Ants Kurg
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Elizaveta A Fonova
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Servi J C Stevens
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Rebekka M Koeck
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Ulrike von Rango
- Department of Anatomy & Embryology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Lloyd Brandts
- Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Technology Assessment (KEMTA), Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Spyridon Panagiotis Deligiannis
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tatyana V Nikitina
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Elena A Sazhenova
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Ekaterina N Tolmacheva
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Anna A Kashevarova
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Dmitry A Fedotov
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Viktoria V Demeneva
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Daria I Zhigalina
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Gleb V Drozdov
- Research Institute of Medical Genetics, Tomsk National Research Medical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
| | - Salwan Al-Nasiry
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Merryn V E Macville
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Arthur van den Wijngaard
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Jos Dreesen
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Aimee Paulussen
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander Hoischen
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Infectious Disease (RCI), Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Radboud Expertise Center for Immunodeficiency and Autoinflammation and Radboud Center for Infectious Disease (RCI), Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Han G Brunner
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Andres Salumets
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
- Competence Center on Health Technologies, Tartu, Estonia.
- Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention & Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Masoud Zamani Esteki
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands.
- Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW-Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
- Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention & Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Koeck RM, Busato F, Tost J, Zandstra H, Remy S, Langie S, Gielen M, van Golde R, Dumoulin JCM, Brunner H, Zamani Esteki M, van Montfoort APA. At age 9, the methylome of assisted reproductive technology children that underwent embryo culture in different media is not significantly different on a genome-wide scale. Hum Reprod 2022; 37:2709-2721. [PMID: 36206092 DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deac213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2022] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
STUDY QUESTION Can we detect DNA methylation differences between ART children that underwent embryo culture in different media? SUMMARY ANSWER We identified no significant differences in site-specific or regional DNA methylation between the different culture medium groups. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Embryo culture in G3 or K-SICM medium leads to differences in embryonic, neonatal and childhood outcomes, including growth and weight. The methylome may mediate this association as the period of in vitro culture of ART treatments coincides with epigenetic reprogramming. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION This study was conducted as a follow-up to a previous culture medium comparison study in which couples were pseudo-randomized to embryo culture in G3 or K-SICM medium. Of the resultant singletons, 120 (n = 65 G3, n = 55 K-SICM), were recruited at age 9. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS The ART children provided a saliva sample from which the methylome was analysed using the Infinium MethylationEPIC array. After quality and context filtering, 106 (n = 57 G3, n = 49 K-SICM) samples and 659 708 sites were retained for the analyses. Differential methylation analyses were conducted using mixed effects linear models corrected for age, sex, sample plate and cell composition. These were applied to all cytosine-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) sites, various genomic regions (genes, promoters, CpG Islands (CGIs)) and as a targeted analysis of imprinted genes and birth weight-associated CpG sites. Differential variance was assessed using the improved epigenetic variable outliers for risk prediction analysis (iEVORA) algorithm and methylation outliers were identified using a previously defined threshold (upper or lower quartile plus or minus three times the interquartile range, respectively). MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE After correcting for multiple testing, we did not identify any significantly differentially methylated CpG sites, genes, promoters or CGIs between G3 and K-SICM children despite a lenient corrected P-value threshold of 0.1. Targeted analyses of (sites within) imprinted genes and birth weight-associated sites also did not identify any significant differences. The number of DNA methylation outliers per sample was comparable between the culture medium groups. iEVORA identified 101 differentially variable CpG sites of which 94 were more variable in the G3 group. LARGE SCALE DATA Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) GSE196432. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION To detect significant methylation differences with a magnitude of <10% between the groups many more participants would be necessary; however, the clinical relevance of such small differences is unclear. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The results of this study are reassuring, suggesting that if there is an effect of the culture medium on DNA methylation (and methylation-mediated diseases risk), it does not differ between the two media investigated here. The findings concur with other methylome studies of ART neonates and children that underwent embryo culture in different media, which also found no significant methylome differences. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) Study funded by March of Dimes (6-FY13-153), EVA (Erfelijkheid Voortplanting & Aanleg) specialty programme (grant no. KP111513) of Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+) and the Horizon 2020 innovation (ERIN) (grant no. EU952516) of the European Commission. The authors do not report any conflicts of interest relevant to this study. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER Dutch Trial register-NL4083.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rebekka M Koeck
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Florence Busato
- Laboratory for Epigenetics & Environment, CEA-Centre National de Recherche en Genomique Humaine, Evry, France
| | - Jorg Tost
- Laboratory for Epigenetics & Environment, CEA-Centre National de Recherche en Genomique Humaine, Evry, France
| | - Heleen Zandstra
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Sylvie Remy
- Health Unit, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium
| | - Sabine Langie
- Health Unit, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium.,Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, The Netherlands
| | - Marij Gielen
- Department of Epidemiology and Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Ron van Golde
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - John C M Dumoulin
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Han Brunner
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Masoud Zamani Esteki
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Aafke P A van Montfoort
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Koeck RM, Busato F, Tost J, Consten D, van Echten-Arends J, Mastenbroek S, Wurth Y, Remy S, Langie S, Nawrot TS, Plusquin M, Alfano R, Bijnens EM, Gielen M, van Golde R, Dumoulin JCM, Brunner H, van Montfoort APA, Zamani Esteki M. Methylome-wide analysis of IVF neonates that underwent embryo culture in different media revealed no significant differences. NPJ Genom Med 2022; 7:39. [PMID: 35768464 PMCID: PMC9243125 DOI: 10.1038/s41525-022-00310-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
A growing number of children born are conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF), which has been linked to an increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes, as well as altered growth profiles and cardiometabolic differences in the resultant individuals. Some of these outcomes have also been shown to be influenced by the use of different IVF culture media and this effect is hypothesised to be mediated epigenetically, e.g. through the methylome. As such, we profiled the umbilical cord blood methylome of IVF neonates that underwent preimplantation embryo development in two different IVF culture media (G5 or HTF), using the Infinium Human Methylation EPIC BeadChip. We found no significant methylation differences between the two groups in terms of: (i) systematic differences at CpG sites or regions, (ii) imprinted sites/genes or birth weight-associated sites, (iii) stochastic differences presenting as DNA methylation outliers or differentially variable sites, and (iv) epigenetic gestational age acceleration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rebekka M Koeck
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Florence Busato
- Laboratory for Epigenetics & Environment, Centre National de Recherche en Genomique Humaine, CEA - institut de Biologie François Jacob, Université Paris Saclay, 91000, Evry, France
| | - Jorg Tost
- Laboratory for Epigenetics & Environment, Centre National de Recherche en Genomique Humaine, CEA - institut de Biologie François Jacob, Université Paris Saclay, 91000, Evry, France
| | - Dimitri Consten
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, St. Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital, Hilvarenbeekseweg 60, 5022, GC, Tilburg, the Netherlands
| | - Jannie van Echten-Arends
- Section of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713, GZ, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Sebastiaan Mastenbroek
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105, AZ, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Yvonne Wurth
- Center for Reproductive Medicine, St. Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital, Hilvarenbeekseweg 60, 5022, GC, Tilburg, the Netherlands
| | - Sylvie Remy
- Health Unit, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - Sabine Langie
- Health Unit, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium.,Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Tim S Nawrot
- Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.,Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leuven University (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium
| | - Michelle Plusquin
- Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Rossella Alfano
- Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Esmée M Bijnens
- Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.,Department of Human Structure and Repair, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marij Gielen
- Department of Epidemiology and Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute Maastricht (NUTRIM), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Ron van Golde
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - John C M Dumoulin
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Han Brunner
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Aafke P A van Montfoort
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
| | - Masoud Zamani Esteki
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands. .,Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, GROW School for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Wang Y, Hannon E, Grant OA, Gorrie-Stone TJ, Kumari M, Mill J, Zhai X, McDonald-Maier KD, Schalkwyk LC. DNA methylation-based sex classifier to predict sex and identify sex chromosome aneuploidy. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:484. [PMID: 34182928 PMCID: PMC8240370 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07675-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Sex is an important covariate of epigenome-wide association studies due to its strong influence on DNA methylation patterns across numerous genomic positions. Nevertheless, many samples on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) frequently lack a sex annotation or are incorrectly labelled. Considering the influence that sex imposes on DNA methylation patterns, it is necessary to ensure that methods for filtering poor samples and checking of sex assignment are accurate and widely applicable. Results Here we presented a novel method to predict sex using only DNA methylation beta values, which can be readily applied to almost all DNA methylation datasets of different formats (raw IDATs or text files with only signal intensities) uploaded to GEO. We identified 4345 significantly (p<0.01) sex-associated CpG sites present on both 450K and EPIC arrays, and constructed a sex classifier based on the two first principal components of the DNA methylation data of sex-associated probes mapped on sex chromosomes. The proposed method is constructed using whole blood samples and exhibits good performance across a wide range of tissues. We further demonstrated that our method can be used to identify samples with sex chromosome aneuploidy, this function is validated by five Turner syndrome cases and one Klinefelter syndrome case. Conclusions This proposed sex classifier not only can be used for sex predictions but also applied to identify samples with sex chromosome aneuploidy, and it is freely and easily accessible by calling the ‘estimateSex’ function from the newest wateRmelon Bioconductor package (https://github.com/schalkwyk/wateRmelon). Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1186/s12864-021-07675-2).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yucheng Wang
- School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, UK
| | - Eilis Hannon
- Medical School, University of Exeter, Barrack Road, Exeter, UK
| | - Olivia A Grant
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, UK
| | | | - Meena Kumari
- Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, UK
| | - Jonathan Mill
- Medical School, University of Exeter, Barrack Road, Exeter, UK
| | - Xiaojun Zhai
- School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, UK.
| | - Klaus D McDonald-Maier
- School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, UK
| | - Leonard C Schalkwyk
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, UK
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Lund JB, Li W, Mohammadnejad A, Li S, Baumbach J, Tan Q. EWASex: an efficient R-package to predict sex in epigenome-wide association studies. Bioinformatics 2020; 37:btaa949. [PMID: 33313760 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 10/14/2020] [Accepted: 10/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
SUMMARY Epigenome-Wide Association Study (EWAS) has become a powerful approach to identify epigenetic variations associated with diseases or health traits. Sex is an important variable to include in EWAS to ensure unbiased data processing and statistical analysis. We introduce the R-package EWASex, which allows for fast and highly accurate sex-estimation using DNA methylation data on a small set of CpG sites located on the X-chromosome under stable X-chromosome inactivation in females. RESULTS We demonstrate that EWASex outperforms the current state of the art tools by using different EWAS datasets. With EWASex, we offer an efficient way to predict and to verify sex that can be easily implemented in any EWAS using blood samples or even other tissue types. It comes with pre-trained weights to work without prior sex labels and without requiring access to RAW data, which is a necessity for all currently available methods. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION The EWASex R-package along with tutorials, documentation and source code are available at https://github.com/Silver-Hawk/EWASex. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jesper Beltoft Lund
- Digital Health & Machine Learning Research Group, Hasso Plattner Institut for Digital Engineering, 14467 Potsdam, Germany
- Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
| | - Weilong Li
- Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
| | - Afsaneh Mohammadnejad
- Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
| | - Shuxia Li
- Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
| | - Jan Baumbach
- Chair of Experimental Bioinformatics, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany
- Computational BioMedicine Lab, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, 5000 Odense, Denmark
| | - Qihua Tan
- Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
- Computational BioMedicine Lab, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, 5000 Odense, Denmark
- Unit of Human Genetics, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|