DNA Methylome Distinguishes Head and Neck Cancer from Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions and Healthy Oral Mucosa

Milutin Gašperov, Nina; Sabol, Ivan; Božinović, Ksenija; Dediol, Emil; Mravak-Stipetić, Marinka; Licastro, Danilo; Dal Monego, Simeone; Grce, Magdalena

doi:10.3390/ijms21186853

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DNA Methylome Distinguishes Head and Neck Cancer from Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions and Healthy Oral Mucosa

Nina Milutin Gašperov

^1,*,

Ivan Sabol

Ksenija Božinović

Emil Dediol

²,

Marinka Mravak-Stipetić

³,

Danilo Licastro

⁴

Simeone Dal Monego

⁴ and

Magdalena Grce

^1,*

Division of Molecular Medicine, Ruđer Bošković Institute, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Medicine, Clinical Hospital Dubrava, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

⁴

ARGO Open Lab Platform for Genome sequencing, AREA Science Park, Padriciano, 99, 34149 Trieste, Italy

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(18), 6853; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21186853

Received: 7 July 2020 / Revised: 14 September 2020 / Accepted: 15 September 2020 / Published: 18 September 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Squamous Cell Cancer of the Head and Neck—Time to Arrive in the 21st Century of Oncology)

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Abstract

There is a strong need to find new, good biomarkers of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) because of the bad prognoses and high mortality rates. The aim of this study was to identify the potential biomarkers in HNSCC that have differences in their DNA methylome and potentially premalignant oral lesions, in comparison to healthy oral mucosa. In this study, 32 oral samples were tested: nine healthy oral mucosae, 13 HNSCC, and 10 oral lesions for DNA methylation by the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip. Our findings showed that a panel of genes significantly hypermethylated in their promoters or specific sites in HNSCC samples in comparison to healthy oral samples, which are mainly oncogenes, receptor, and transcription factor genes, or genes included in cell cycle, transformation, apoptosis, and autophagy. A group of hypomethylated genes in HNSCC, in comparison to healthy oral mucosa, are mainly involved in the host immune response and transcriptional regulation. The results also showed significant differences in gene methylation between HNSCC and potentially premalignant oral lesions, as well as differently methylated genes that discriminate between oral lesions and healthy mucosa. The given methylation panels point to novel potential biomarkers for early diagnostics of HNSCC, as well as potentially premalignant oral lesions. View Full-Text

Keywords: DNA methylation; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC); potentially premalignant oral lesions; healthy oral mucosa; human papillomavirus (HPV)

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Milutin Gašperov, N.; Sabol, I.; Božinović, K.; Dediol, E.; Mravak-Stipetić, M.; Licastro, D.; Dal Monego, S.; Grce, M. DNA Methylome Distinguishes Head and Neck Cancer from Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions and Healthy Oral Mucosa. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21, 6853. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21186853

AMA Style

Milutin Gašperov N, Sabol I, Božinović K, Dediol E, Mravak-Stipetić M, Licastro D, Dal Monego S, Grce M. DNA Methylome Distinguishes Head and Neck Cancer from Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions and Healthy Oral Mucosa. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2020; 21(18):6853. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21186853

Chicago/Turabian Style

Milutin Gašperov, Nina, Ivan Sabol, Ksenija Božinović, Emil Dediol, Marinka Mravak-Stipetić, Danilo Licastro, Simeone Dal Monego, and Magdalena Grce. 2020. "DNA Methylome Distinguishes Head and Neck Cancer from Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions and Healthy Oral Mucosa" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 21, no. 18: 6853. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21186853

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DNA Methylome Distinguishes Head and Neck Cancer from Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions and Healthy Oral Mucosa

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