Hypermethylation-mediated downregulation of long non-coding RNA MEG3 inhibits osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and promotes pediatric aplastic anemia

•Low MEG3 and BMP4 and high DNMT1 were observed in BMSCs of pediatric AA patients.•Overexpression of DNMT1 increased the binding between DNMT1 and MEG3 promoter.•DNMT1 mediated the hypermethylation of MEG3 promoter in BMSCs.•DNMT1/MEG3/BMP4 axis modulated osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs in pediatric AA.