Intra-gene DNA methylation variability is a clinically independent prognostic marker in women’s cancers

Differences in DNA methylation (DNAm) levels are amongst the earliest changes in human carcinogenesis, and are a hallmark of cancer, offering the potential for novel strategies to predict cancer biology and outcome. Hence, DNAm markings might provide a valuable lead for the development of DNA-based cancer biomarkers in tissue and bodily fluids. The Illumina Infinium 450k Human DNA methylation Beadchip was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across approximately 480,000 CpGs in a total of 221 samples, including 171 serous, 18 endometrioid, 14 clear cell, 9 mucinous and 9 other histological cancer subtypes. Bisulphite converted DNA from the 221 samples were hybridized to the Illumina Infinium 450k Human Methylation Beadchip