title: Genome-Wide Identification of a Methylation Gene Panel as a Prognostic Biomarker in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.
abstract: DNA methylation, the best known epigenetic marker, can be used as a prognostic biomarker in many cancers. We examined DNA methylation status and survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. Aberrant DNA-methylated genes in 24 NPC tissues and 24 noncancer nasopharyngitis biopsy tissues (NCNBT) were identified using Illumina 450K BeadChip. Correlations between DNA methylation and clinical outcomes were evaluated using bisulfite pyrosequencing in 454 NPC patients. Genome-wide methylation analysis demonstrated that NPC tissues had distinct DNA methylation patterns compared with NCNBT. Among all significant CpG sites, 2,173 CpG sites with β change ≥ 0.2 (1,880 hypermethylated, 293 hypomethylated) were identified (P < 0.05). A methylation gene panel comprising six hypermethylated genes was constructed with the average Z-score method. Patients in the training cohort with high methylation had poorer disease-free survival [DFS, HR, 2.26; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.28-4.01; P, 0.005] and overall survival (OS, HR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.30-4.71; P, 0.006) than those with low methylation. There were similar results in the validation (DFS, HR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.17-3.67; P, 0.013; OS, HR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.01-3.31; P, 0.046) and independent cohorts (DFS, HR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.08-3.47; P, 0.026; OS, HR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.10-3.98; P, 0.022). Analysis indicated that the methylation gene panel was an independent prognostic factor. Furthermore, patients with low methylation had a favorable response to concurrent chemotherapy with an improved DFS (P = 0.045) and OS (P = 0.031), whereas patients with high methylation did not benefit from concurrent chemotherapy. The six-hypermethylated gene panel was associated with poor survival in patients with NPC, demonstrating its potential usefulness as a prognostic biomarker to clinicians in NPC management.
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Zhong
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xian-Yue
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei-Feng
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ya-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ying-Qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: William C S
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li-Zhi
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hai-Qiang
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mu-Sheng
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tie-Bang
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jian-Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. drjunma@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D002277:Carcinoma; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins