Highlights
1) In the article we have evaluated the promoter methylation levels of
two CpG islands containing 31 loci in ERAP1 gene. The methylation
levels of ERAP1_1 (P < 0.001) and ERAP1_2 (P <
0.001) islands were significantly hypermethylated in AS patients
compared with healthy controls.
2) Correspondingly, the mRNA level of EARAP1 was significantly
lower in AS patients.
3) The ROC curve analysis also reported that the sensitivity,
specificity and area under curve were 0.717, 0.737 and 0.779 of 15
differential methylated CpG loci of ERAP1 for AS diagnosis.
4) Besides, we also found that the methylation level was associated with
the family history, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use, X-ray
classification and clinical manifestations of AS.