Association between the methylations of in peripheral blood and lung cancer: a case-control study.

Background: is hypermethylated in multiple cancers. also functions as a regulator of tumors. However, there are only very few reports on the association of methylation of and with lung cancer (LC) in peripheral blood.

Methods: 426 LC patients and 428 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. DNA methylation in blood was semi-quantitively assessed by mass spectrometry. For the association analysis, binary logistic regression analysis adjusted covariant was applied, and ORs were presented as per +10% methylation.

Results: Hypermethylation of CpG_1, CpG_5 and CpG_8 in was significantly associated with LC (ORs = 1.45, 1.35 and 1.35, respectively, adjusted  < 0.05), and even stage I LC. The association between the three CpG sites and LC was enhanced by increased age (> 55 years, ORs ranged from 1.43 to 1.75, adjusted  < 0.05), male gender (ORs ranged from 1.47 to 1.59, adjusted  < 0.05) and tumor stage (stage II&III&IV, ORs ranged from 1.86 to 3.03, adjusted  < 0.05).

Conclusions: This study suggests a significant association between blood-based hypermethylation and LC, especially in elder people, in males and in LC patients with advanced stage.