Replication and expansion of epigenome-wide association literature in a black South African population

Abstract

The successful replication of existing EWAS findings in this African population demonstrates that blood-based 450K EWAS findings from commonly investigated ancestries can largely be extrapolated to ethnicities for which epigenetic data are not yet available. Possible population-specific differences in 14% of the tested associations do, however, motivate the need to include a diversity of ethnic groups in future epigenetic research. The novel associations found with the enhanced coverage of the Illumina EPIC array support its usefulness to expand epigenetic literature.