Whole genome methylation sequencing reveals distinct impact of differential methylations on gene transcription in prostate cancer (1047.9)

DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic mechanisms in regulating gene expression. Genome hypermethylation has been speculated as a critical mechanism in human malignancies. However, whole genome quantification of DNA methylation of human malignancies has rarely been investigated, and the significance of the genome distribution of CpG methylation is unclear. In this report, we performed whole genome methylation sequencing to investigate the methylation profiles of 13 prostate samples, including 5 prostate cancers, 4 matched benign prostate tissues adjacent to cancer and 4 age-matched organ donor prostate tissues. Our results showed that alterations of methylation patterns occurred in prostate cancer and benign prostate tissues adjacent to cancer in comparison with age matched organ donor prostates. Over 95% alterations of genome methylation occurred in sequences outside CpG islands. Only a small fraction of the methylated CpG islands exerts an impact on RNA expression. Both intragene and pr...