Identification of frequent MTNR1B methylation in breast cancer following the application of high-throughput methylome analysis

Abstract

Background Breast cancer is the main cancer type affecting women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The relatively young age of onset in this population could be explained by the interplay between common genetic susceptibility background substantiated by increased consanguinity and epigenetic aberrations caused by the shift in life style experienced in this region [1]. Genomic screening of breast cancer patients is beneficial in identifying underlying variants that could explain increased susceptibility to breast cancer. However, it is important to understand the epigenetic aberrations associated with breast cancer in order to shed light on its etiology and identify possible treatments. To this end, we have performed MBD-Seq on a cohort of breast cancer samples that led to the identification of tumor-specific methylation of the MTNR1B promoter in a significant number of breast cancer cases from Saudi Arabia.