Open AccessMethylation of immune-regulatory cytokine genes and pancreatic cancer outcomes
Author(s) -
Brian Huang,
Alexandra M. Binder,
Catherine A. Sugar,
Chun Chao,
Veronica Wendy Setiawan,
ZuoFeng Zhang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
epigenomics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.265
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1750-1911
pISSN - 1750-192X
DOI - 10.2217/epi-2019-0335
Subject(s) - biology , pancreatic cancer , dna methylation , epigenetics , methylation , cpg site , cytokine , interleukin 10 , cancer research , immune system , cancer , interleukin 6 , gene , immunology , genetics , gene expression
Aim: Given the immunosuppressive nature of pancreatic cancer, we investigated the relationship between epigenetic modification of immune-regulatory cytokine genes and pancreatic cancer outcomes. Materials & methods: We evaluated DNA methylation of 184 pancreatic tumor samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas for 111 CpG loci in seven cytokine genes: IL10 , IL6 , IL8 , TGFβ1 , TGFβ2 , TGFβ3 and TNF . We used Cox regression to evaluate the associations between methylation and overall survival, disease-specific survival and disease progression (α = 0.05). Results: Poorer survival was associated with increased methylation in fifteen CpG probes in TGFβ1 , TGFβ2 , TGFβ3 and TNF . We also detected improved outcomes for three loci in IL10 , IL8 and IL6 . Conclusion: Epigenetic regulation of cytokine-related gene expression may be associated with pancreatic cancer outcomes.