Finally, other enriched pathways, such as “neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction”, which may on the surface seem less relevant, include differentially methylated genes such as P2RY11 (part of the purinergic pathway), AGT, and NMUR2 that are centered in network hubs (Additional file 1: Figure S4D); these genes have also been implicated in other studies as important in asthma [26–29]. This evidence concerns the gene NMUR2 and asthma.