DNA methylation analysis of paediatric low-grade astrocytomas identifies a tumour-specific hypomethylation signature in pilocytic astrocytomas.

ABSTRACT: Low-grade gliomas (LGGs) account for about a third of all brain tumours in children. We conducted a detailed study of DNA methylation and gene expression to improve our understanding of the biology of pilocytic and diffuse astrocytomas. Pilocytic astrocytomas were found to have a distinctive signature at 315 CpG sites, of which 312 were hypomethylated and 3 were hypermethylated. Genomic analysis revealed that 182 of these sites are within annotated enhancers. The signature was not present in diffuse astrocytomas, or in published profiles of other brain tumours and normal brain tissue. The AP-1 transcription factor was predicted to bind within 200 bp of a subset of the 315 differentially methylated CpG sites; the AP-1 factors, FOS and FOSL1 were found to be up-regulated in pilocytic astrocy

SUBMITTER: Jeyapalan JN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4882864 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature