Abstract
BackgroundChanges in DNA methylation over the course of life may provide an indicator of risk for cancer. We explored longitudinal changes in CpG methylation from blood leukocytes, and likelihood of future cancer diagnosis.MethodsPeripheral blood samples were obtained at baseline and at follow-up visit from 20 participants in the Health, Aging and Body Composition prospective cohort study. Genome-wide CpG methylation was assayed using the Illumina Infinium Human MethylationEPIC (HM850K) microarray.ResultsGlobal patterns in DNA methylation from CpG-based analyses showed extensive changes in cell composition over time in participants who developed cancer. By visit year 6, the proportion of CD8+ T-cells decreased (p-value = 0.02), while granulocytes cell levels increased (p-value = 0.04) among participants diagnosed with cancer compared to those who remained cancer-free (cancer-free vs. cancer-present: 0.03 ± 0.02 vs. 0.003 ± 0.005 for CD8+ T-cells; 0.52 ± 0.14 vs. 0.66 ± 0.09 for granulocytes). Epigenome-wide analysis identified three CpGs with suggestive p-values ≤10− 5 for differential methylation between cancer-free and cancer-present groups, including a CpG located in MTA3, a gene linked with metastasis. At a lenient statistical threshold (p-value ≤3 × 10− 5), the top 10 cancer-associated CpGs included a site near RPTOR that is involved in the mTOR pathway, and the candidate tumor suppressor genes REC8, KCNQ1, and ZSWIM5. However, only the CpG in RPTOR (cg08129331) was replicated in an independent data set. Analysis of within-individual change from baseline to Year 6 found significant correlations between the rates of change in methylation in RPTOR, REC8 and ZSWIM5, and time to cancer diagnosis.ConclusionThe results show that changes in cellular composition explains much of the cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in CpG methylation. Additionally, differential methylation and longitudinal dynamics at specific CpGs could provide powerful indicators of cancer development and/or progression. In particular, we highlight CpG methylation in the RPTOR gene as a potential biomarker of cancer that awaits further validation.
Highlights
Changes in DNA methylation over the course of life may provide an indicator of risk for cancer
The present study examines the longitudinal restructuring of the methylome over five years and evaluates whether change in CpG methylation is a biomarker of cancer in older adults
There were no differences in race, sex, or baseline age or body mass index (BMI) between participants diagnosed with cancer and those who remained cancer-free (Table 2)
Summary
Changes in DNA methylation over the course of life may provide an indicator of risk for cancer. While abnormal epigenomic changes within tumor cells would hold the most impact, there is developing evidence that methylation changes relevant to cancer progression can be detected in circulating blood. Global changes in repetitive elements as well as targeted CpG methylation found in DNA from blood cells have been reported for multiple cancer types [11,12,13,14,15]. This suggests the possibility of a pan-cancer biomarker panel detectable in blood that could precede the clinical detection and diagnosis of cancer [16]
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