Cancer associated fibroblasts from localised prostate cancer have a distinctive DNA methylation profile [Illumina EPIC]

The current methods to distinguish slow-growing from aggressive localised prostate cancer at diagnosis are imprecise so aggressive tumours can sometimes be missed. In this study we examined whether the changes in the features of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) from the surrounding tumour microenvironment can help identify high risk tumours. We show that CAFs have a distinct methylation profile versus non-malignant prostate fibroblasts (NPFs) including specific differentially methylated regions that distinguish higher grade prostate cancer. DNA methylation microarrays were used to interrogate human prostate fibroblasts from subjects with benign prostate hyperplasia and subjects with prostate cancer with different Gleason grades.