Examination of genome-wide methylation changes in lung cancer cell lines A549 (A) and HTB56 (H) [HumanMethylation27 BeadChip experiments]. Homo sapiens

Cancer cell phenotypes are partially determined by epigenetic specifications such as DNA methylation. Metastasis development is a late event in cancerogenesis and might be associated with epigenetic alterations. Here, we analyzed genome wide DNA methylation changes that were associated with pro-metastatic phenotypes in non-small cell lung cancer using the Illumina HumanMethylation27 BeadChip platform. Overall design: We studied genome-wide methylation changes in lung cancer cell lines A549 (A) and HTB56 (H). We generated NSCLC lines with highly increased propensity to form tumor nodules in murine lungs after intravenous injections. In addition to the normal cell lines (0R) we analyzed the methylome of the the cell lines after three rounds of in vivo selection towards a highly metastatic phenotype (3R).