Fig. 4. Persistent effect of smoking on adaptive immune responses correlates with DNA methylation at signal trans-activators and metabolism regulators.
a, DNA methylation levels for the top probe that removes association of smoking status with IL-2 in SEB stimulation, when passed as a covariate in the models, for the indicated genes and for never, past and current smokers. The centre line shows the median, hinges represent the 25th and 75th percentiles and whiskers extend from the hinge to the largest or smallest values no further than 1.5 interquartile range and n = 955. Two-sided Wilcoxon rank sum tests adjusting for multiple comparisons. Left to right: P < 2.22 × 10−16, P < 2.22 × 10−16, P < 2.22 × 10−16 (cg05575921); P < 2.22 × 10−16, P < 2.22 × 10−16, 9 × 10−14 (cg03636183); 7.9 × 10−12, P < 2.22 × 10−16, 2 × 10−7 (cg19859270); P < 2.22 × 10−16, P < 2.22 × 10−16, 9 × 10−9 (cg17739917); P < 2.22 × 10−16, P < 2.22 × 10−16, 0.31 (cg14391737). b–e, Methylation (5mC level) for each probe depending on the number of years individuals smoked (for current smokers) (b), the total lifetime number of cigarettes smoked (for current smokers) (c), the number of years since last smoke (for past smokers) (d) and IL-2 concentration following SEB stimulation (e) for the indicated genes. R values and two-sided Pearson correlations are shown.