MethPanel: a parallel pipeline and interactive analysis tool for multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing to assess DNA methylation biomarker panels for disease detection

Background: Multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing is a convenient and scalable method to comprehensively profile DNA methylation at selected loci. The method is useful for validation of methylation biomarker panels on large clinical cohorts, as it can be applied to DNA isolated from fresh tissue, archival formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue (FFPET) or circulating cell free DNA in plasma. However, successful clinical implementation of DNA methylation biomarkers for disease detection using multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing, requires user-friendly sample analysis methods and a diversity of visualisation options, which are not met by current tools. Results: We have developed a computational pipeline with an interactive graphical interface, called MethPanel, in order to rapidly analyse multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing data. MethPanel comprises a complete analysis workflow from genomic alignment to DNA methylation calling and supports an unlimited number of PCR amplicons and input samples. Moreover, MethPanel offers important and unique features, such as calculation of a polymorphism score and bisulphite PCR bias correction capabilities. MethPanel is designed so that the methylation data from all samples can be run in parallel on either a personal computer or a high performance computer. The outputs are also automatically forwarded to a shinyApp for convenient display, visualisation and sharing data with collaborators and clinicians. Importantly the data is centralised in one location, which aids storage management. Availability and Implementation: MethPanel is freely available at https://github.com/thinhong/MethPanel Conclusion: MethPanel provides a novel parallel pipeline and interactive analysis tool for multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing to assess DNA methylation marker panels for disease detection.