Global analysis of epigenetic heterogeneity identifies divergent drivers of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [article]

WEI CAO, Hayan Lee, Wei Wu, Aubhishek Zaman, Sean McCorkle, Ming Yan, Justin Chen, Qinghe Xing, Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong, Hongen Xu, M.Reza Sailani, Wenxue Tang (+18 others)
2019 bioRxiv   pre-print
Epigenetic landscapes can shape physiologic and disease phenotypes. We used integrative, high resolution multi-omics methods to characterize the oncogenic drivers of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We found 98% of CpGs are hypomethylated across the ESCC genome and two-thirds occur in long non-coding (lnc)RNA regions. DNA methylation and epigenetic heterogeneity both coincide with chromosomal topological alterations. Gene body methylation, polycomb repressive complex occupancy, and
more » ... F binding sites associate with cancer-specific gene regulation. Epigenetically-mediated activation of non-canonical WNT signaling and the lncRNA ESCCAL-1 were validated as potential ESCC driver alterations. Gene-specific cancer driver roles of epigenetic alterations and heterogeneity are identified.
doi:10.1101/641357 fatcat:yueijf5iybgpva3sclb6qcvxpu