Going back to the future with Guthrie-powered epigenome-wide association studies
1 Division of Leukaemia and Cancer Research, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health, University of Western Australia, WA, Australia
2 Victorian Clinical Genetics Services, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, VIC, Australia
3 Early Life Epigenetics Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Genome Medicine 2012, 4:83 doi:10.1186/gm384
Published: 30 October 2012Abstract
Epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) can be used to investigate links between early life environment, epigenetics and disease. However, such studies raise the question of which came first: the mark or the malady? A recent study has demonstrated that EWAS can be performed on neonatal 'Guthrie' heel-prick blood spots. As Guthrie cards are collected from all newborn infants and stored indefinitely in many countries, they represent an important timepoint to compare with later disease-associated epigenetic marks.
