Analysis of Matched Tumor and Normal Profiles Reveals Common Transcriptional and Epigenetic Signals Shared across Cancer Types.

ABSTRACT: To identify the transcriptional regulatory changes that are most widespread in solid tumors, we performed a pan-cancer analysis using over 600 pairs of tumors and adjacent normal tissues profiled in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Frequency of upregulation was calculated across mRNA expression levels, microRNA expression levels and CpG methylation sites and is provided here as a resource. Frequent tumor-associated alterations were identified using a simple statistical approach. Many of the identified changes were consistent with the increased rate of cell division in cancer, such as the overexpression of cell cycle genes and hypermethylation of PRC2 binding sites. However, we also identified proliferation-independent alterations, which highlight novel pathways essential to tumor formation.

SUBMITTER: Gross AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4640835 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature