A DNA methylation network interaction measure, and detection of network oncomarkers.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic processes--including DNA methylation--are increasingly seen as having a fundamental role in chronic diseases like cancer. DNA methylation patterns offer a route to develop prognostic measures based directly on DNA measurements, rather than less-stable RNA measurements. A novel DNA methylation-based measure of the co-ordinated interactive behaviour of genes is developed, in a network context. It is shown that this measure reflects well the co-regulatory behaviour linked to gene expression (at the mRNA level) over the same network interactions. This measure, defined for pairs of genes in a single patient/sample, associates with overall survival outcome independent of known prognostic clinical features, in several independent data sets relating to different cancer types. In total,

SUBMITTER: Bartlett TE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3882261 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature