Two-stage genome-wide methylation profiling in childhood-onset Crohn's Disease implicates epigenetic alterations at the VMP1/MIR21 and HLA loci.

Background: As a result of technological and analytical advances, genome-wide characterization of key epigenetic alterations is now feasible in complex diseases. We hypothesized that this may provide important insights into gene-environmental interactions in Crohn's disease (CD) and is especially pertinent to early onset disease.

Methods: The Illumina 450K platform was applied to assess epigenome-wide methylation profiles in circulating leukocyte DNA in discovery and replication pediatric CD cohorts and controls.