Aberrant AHRR, ADAMTS2 and FAM184 DNA Methylation: Candidate Biomarkers in the Oral Rinse of Heavy Smokers

Objective. To identify DNA methylation patterns of heavy smokers in oral rinse samples. Methods. Genome-wide data was imported from Gene Expression Omnibus GSE70977 using the GEOquery package. Two independent sets were analyzed: (a) 71 epigenomes cancer-free subjects (heavy n = 37 vs. non-smokers 31); for concordance assessment (b) 139 oral-cancer patients’ 92 47). Differential CpG positions and at regional level determined Limma DMRcate Bioconductor packages. The linear model included sex, age, alcohol consumption. statistical threshold set to p < 0.05. Functional gene prioritization analysis performed gene-targeted analysis. Results. In individuals without cancer smokers, FAM184B found with two differentially hypermethylated (p 0.012 after FDR adjustment), a region 48 bp an absolute difference >10% between groups 1.76 × 10−8). corresponding patients, we AHRR hypomethylated but also targeted analyses. Remarkably, ADAMTS2 diagnosis consecutive probes cg05575921 3.13 10−7) cg10208897 1.36 10−5). Conclusions: Differentially methylated AHRR, ADAMTS2, genes are biomarker candidates