Colorectal Cancer, Adenoma And Normal Whole Genome Methylation Sequencing In Africa Americans

Background: Colorectal adenoma (CRA) to cancer (CRC) progression involves epigenetic changes including DNA methylation. Here we performed whole genome Bisulfite Next-Generation Sequencing (WGBNGS) on a normal, a tubular adenoma and a tumor patients’ tissue DNA to elucidate epigenetic drivers in normal to cancer progression. Patients and Methods: Genomic DNA was isolated from fresh frozen tissues from a patient with normal colon, from a tubular adenoma lesion (20X depth was performed on these DNA samples., Alignment, mapping and CpG methylation analyses were done. Pyrosequencing and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to confirm selected methylation target genes. Results: We identified 94 unique CpG sites hypermethylated in 4 novel genes in adenoma compared to normal and 180 unique CpG sites in 7 genes in cancer. Ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) showed that the methylated genes including a novel gene ATXN7L1 were involved in WNT pathway, ubiquitination process and cross-talk with B-catenin, in the adenoma. Three of the hypermethylated genes in cancer were, Loc100506436: a novel gene with 17 unique CpG sites (EGFR pathway, cRNA CpG site hypermethylated is part of MEK1/2), GPNMB with 7 unique CpG sites (membrane protein likely in complexes with integrins) and TNFAIP2 with 8 unique CpG sites (its role was noted in Head and neck cancer). IHC confirmed the lack of GPNMB expression in cancer tissues. Conclusion: This work provides insight into differential CpG island methylation profiles in CRA, CRC vs. normal colon tissue and provides a window into the more complex factors, including alteration of known and novel genes as multiple CpG methylation drivers in colorectal carcinogenesis. Investigations into the possible roles of the novel genes targets in the context of early and prognostic methylation biomarker are underway. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 994. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-994