Use of Buccal DNA Methylation Profiles to Risk Stratify Current and Former Smokers for Lung Cancer

摘要

The main goal of this proposal was to focus on the identification and development of tools for screening or early detection of lung cancer by evaluating the methylation profile of DNA from buccal cells as a risk stratifying tool for curent and former smokers at risk for developing lung cancer. Our initial findings indicate that (1) the methylation patterns of the blood and buccal DNA appeared to be distinct, (2) the epigenetic profile of buccal and blood DNA is most different among current smokers, suggesting that tobacco smoke exposure affects buccal DNA differently from blood DNA, and (3) smoking exposure is associated with more hypermethylated loci in buccal DNA when compared to former and never smokers. These data will direct our approach to evaluating a case control study of lung cancer cases and noncases, which have already been genotyped. These results provide strong evidence supporting the possibility that buccal epigenetic profiles can be informative in identifying individuals at high risk for lung cancer.