MethylCallR : a comprehensive analysis framework for Illumina Methylation Beadchip

DNA methylation is a molecular process that mediates gene-environment interactions. Epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) using the Illumina Human Methylation BeadChip are powerful tools for quantifying the relationship between DNA methylation and phenotypes. Recently, the Illumina Methylation EPICv2 BeadChip (EPICv2) was released, which includes new features, such as duplicated probes and changed probe names. Several published algorithms have been updated to address these features in EPICv2. However, appropriate EPICv2 preprocessing and integration with previous microarray versions remain complex. Therefore, MethylCallR, an open-source R package designed to provide standard procedures for performing EWAS using Illumina methylation microarrays including EPICv2, was developed. MethylCallR can be used to control duplicated probes in EPICv2, by using pre-set data implemented in MethylCallR or new customized data. MethylCallR includes a straightforward conversion function between different types of Illumina Human Methylation BeadChips. Using MethylCallR, potential outlier sample detection and statistical power estimation were conducted and used to select meaningful probes. Publicly available data was analyzed using MethylCallR and the findings were compared to that of a previous study.