An unsupervised approach subgroups cancer types by distinct local DNA methylation patterns

• Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in humans. It can arise from many different cell types, and even cancers originating from the same tissue can constitute a heterogeneous group of diseases. While cytogenetics, the analysis of mutations and karyotypic alterations, has greatly improved the accuracy of diagnosis, it is likely that there are more categories in which cancers can be divided than is known today. Moreover, new biomarkers confirming existing classification schemes are desirable. Here, we interrogated the DNA methylation (DNAm) landscape as a novel indicator for discerning cancer subtypes.We developed and applied an unsupervised method, methylSaguaro, which is based on the combination of a Hidden Markov Model and a Neural Net. We first compared the concept of hypothesizing patterns and grouping to statistical methods that require a priori hypotheses to perform enrichment tests. We then analyzed samples from four cancer groups, Gliomas, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), Renal Cell Carcinomas (RCC), and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). On gliomas and CLL, we confirmed known cancer groupings in DNAm that perfectly correspond to known mutations. On Renal Cell Carcinomas, our method disagrees with the histological classification on 4% of the samples, and finds a novel cluster, suggesting that there might be a novel subtype that was hitherto unknown. On AML, methylSaguaro spreads the samples out on a continuous spectrum, enriching one end with patients assessed as having “poor” risk based on cytogenetics, but indicating that DNAm patterns would suggest a different risk assessment. Since methylSaguaro reports both the patterns and the specific sites behind the signals, we analyzed regions and genes indicative of subtypes across the cancers, revealing 41 genes affected by alterations in more than one cancer. In summary, we expect that DNAm, coupled with a hypothesis-free analysis method, will add to the set of clinical instruments to diagnose, assess, and treat cancer.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Bioinformatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Bioinformatics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

unsupervised learning

DNA methylation

cancer subtyping

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