Epigenetic profiling of hepatoblastoma tumors with respect to low birth weight

描述(申请人提供)：肝母细胞瘤(HB)是一种罕见的肝脏肿瘤，其发病率在1975年至1999年期间在美国翻了一番。HB是最难治疗的儿童癌症之一，5年相对存活率接近60%。最近的证据表明，低出生体重(LBW：1,500-2,500克)和特别低(VLBW：&lt；1,500克)出生体重的婴儿患HB的风险增加。有有限的证据支持表观遗传改变在乙肝发展中的潜在作用；然而，迄今为止还没有对乙肝甲基化模式的改变进行全面的研究。我们的长期目标是了解表观遗传改变在乙肝中的作用，以及这些改变如何被用来指导治疗。这项研究的主要目的是鉴定84例HB肿瘤和33例正常肝组织中DNA启动子高甲基化改变的一组基因。我们的假设是，DNA甲基化模式在肿瘤和正常组织中会有所不同，并将与生存相关。为了探索这一假设，将评估以下特定目标：1)确定区分肝母细胞瘤与正常肝组织的甲基化特征；2)评估甲基化特征与诊断为HB后结果之间的关联。作为一个探索性的目标，我们还将检查低出生体重者和正常出生体重者DNA甲基化模式的差异。我们将利用两个阶段的方法来测量DNA甲基化。首先，我们将使用光人类甲基化450珠芯片来测量甲基化，它包括整个基因组中的480,000个CpG基因座，在我们发现的40个HB和20个正常肝组织中。这将允许我们选择具有HB特征的CpG站点。然后，我们将在44个Hb和13个正常肝脏样本中通过焦磷酸测序来验证前15个CpG位点。在拟议的研究完成后，我们预计我们将识别出一组DNA甲基化改变的基因，这些基因可能与乙肝的发展相关，并与确诊后的生存相关。在本申请中提出的研究具有重要意义，因为对HB中DNA甲基化的更全面评估，如这里建议的那样，可能提供对这些肿瘤发展过程中起作用的途径的洞察。这一知识反过来可能为患有这种疾病的儿童确定新的治疗目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hepatoblastoma (HB) is a rare liver tumor, the incidence of which doubled between 1975 and 1999 in the United States. HB is one of the least treatable forms of childhood cancer with 5-year relative survival rates near 60%. Recent evidence suggests increased risk of HB in low (LBW: 1,500-2,500 grams), and especially very low (VLBW: <1,500 grams) birth weight infants. Limited evidence exists to support a potential role of epigenetic alterations in the development of HB; however, a comprehensive study of alterations in methylation patterns in HB has not been conducted to date. Our long term objective is to understand the role of epigenetic alterations in HB and how these alterations may be used to inform treatment. The primary objective for this study is to identify a panel of genes with altered promoter hypermethylation in DNA extracted from 84 HB tumors and 33 normal liver tissues. Our hypothesis is that DNA methylation patterns will differ between tumor and normal tissue and will be associated with survival. To explore this hypothesis, the following specific aims will be evaluated: 1) identify methylation profiles that distinguish hepatoblastoma from normal liver tissue and 2) evaluate the association between methylation profiles and outcomes following a diagnosis of HB. As an exploratory aim, we will also examine differences in DNA methylation patterns in cases with low birth weight vs. cases with normal birth weight. We will utilize a two-staged approach to measure DNA methylation. First, we will measure methylation using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip, which includes >480,000 CpG loci throughout the genome, in our discovery set of 40 HB and 20 normal liver tissues. This will allow us to select CpG sites that are characteristic of HB. We will then validate the top 15 CpG sites by pyrosequencing in our validation set of 44 HB and 13 normal liver samples. At the completion of the proposed studies, it is our expectation that we will have identified a panel of genes with altered DNA methylation that are likely to be relevant in the development of HB and associated with survival following diagnosis. The research proposed in this application is significant because a more comprehensive evaluation of DNA methylation in HB such as the one proposed here may provide insight into the pathways that play a role in the development of these tumors. This knowledge in turn may identify new targets for therapy in children with this disease.