Tumour-based DNA methylation markers of breast cancer survival: a pooled analysis of 2157 cases

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Tumour DNA methylation is a potentially valuable marker of breast cancer survival, but previous studies have been limited by relatively small sample sizes. This study aimed to use a large sample size to identify survival-associated DNA methylation markers and develop a methylation-based signature predictive of breast cancer survival. METHODS: We used DNA methylation data from 2,157 breast tumours collected in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS) and nine publicly available datasets. An epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) was conducted for five-year overall survival (N = 1,992 cases). Subgroup analyses were carried out by estrogen receptor status. Pathway enrichment..