Grant Number:	1R01CA207110-01 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Michaud, Dominique
Organization:	Tufts University Boston
Project Title:	Prospective Immune Profiling Using Methylation Markers and Pancreatic Cancer Risk
Fiscal Year:	2016

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Pancreatic cancer is a rapidly lethal cancer and accounts for the fourth highest number of cancer-related deaths in the US. Few risk factors for this fatal cancer are well-established and identifying new susceptibility markers for this disease may provide new avenues for research. In a recent study, DNA methylation markers directly measuring regulatory T-lymphocytes were strongly associated with subsequent colorectal and lung cancer risk in a prospective cohort study (Barth et al., JNCI 2015). In addition, we have shown that profiles of DNA methylation in leukocytes are associated with human bladder and head and neck cancers (both tobacco- related cancers). Importantly, we have demonstrated that much, but not all, of this variation in DNA methylation linked to these diseases is attributable to disease-associated changes in the underlying profile of normal, unactivated immune cells in the blood. Critical to this application, we have developed and validated a novel statistical methodology that can utilize our independently generated library of DNA methylation profiles from leukocyte subsets to quantify the proportion of these normal leukocyte subtypes in archival material. This method can disentangle the variability in DNA methylation profiles attributable to variation in leukocyte sub- populations from potentially important and novel epigenetic variation arising within a cell population. The well- described risk associated with inflammatory factors in pancreatic cancer provides a compelling rationale for undertaking a prospective analysis characterizing epigenetic biomarkers of the immunologic perturbations. Our approach offers a unique setting in which to discover induced immunomodulatory states in the blood that are currently not recognized as risk factors for pancreatic cancer. We hypothesize that potentially causal immunologic perturbations characterized by changes in blood cell proportion and immune activation (measured with DNA methylation markers) will be prospectively discernible in the peripheral blood. To test our hypothesis, we propose to examine DNA methylation changes in relation to risk of pancreatic cancer using existing samples from four large prospective cohort studies.




Identification of a foetal epigenetic compartment in adult human kidney.
Authors: Wiencke J.K. , Zhang Z. , Koestler D.C. , Salas L.A. , Molinaro A.M. , Christensen B.C. , Kelsey K.T. .
Source: Epigenetics, 2021-03-30 00:00:00.0; , p. 1-21.
EPub date: 2021-03-30 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33783321
Related Citations

DNA methylation ageing clocks and pancreatic cancer risk: pooled analysis of three prospective nested case-control studies.
Authors: Chung M. , Ruan M. , Zhao N. , Koestler D.C. , De Vivo I. , Kelsey K.T. , Michaud D.S. .
Source: Epigenetics, 2021-01-07 00:00:00.0; , p. 1-11.
EPub date: 2021-01-07 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33315530
Related Citations

Epigenome-Wide Association Study Using Prediagnostic Bloods Identifies New Genomic Regions Associated With Pancreatic Cancer Risk.
Authors: Michaud D.S. , Ruan M. , Koestler D.C. , Pei D. , Marsit C.J. , De Vivo I. , Kelsey K.T. .
Source: Jnci Cancer Spectrum, 2020 Oct; 4(5), p. pkaa041.
EPub date: 2020-05-19 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 33134824
Related Citations

DNA Methylation-Derived Immune Cell Profiles, CpG Markers of Inflammation, and Pancreatic Cancer Risk.
Authors: Michaud D.S. , Ruan M. , Koestler D.C. , Alonso L. , Molina-Montes E. , Pei D. , Marsit C.J. , De Vivo I. , Malats N. , Kelsey K.T. .
Source: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention : A Publication Of The American Association For Cancer Research, Cosponsored By The American Society Of Preventive Oncology, 2020-05-19 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2020-05-19 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 32430337
Related Citations

DNA methylation aging clocks: challenges and recommendations.
Authors: Bell C.G. , Lowe R. , Adams P.D. , Baccarelli A.A. , Beck S. , Bell J.T. , Christensen B.C. , Gladyshev V.N. , Heijmans B.T. , Horvath S. , et al. .
Source: Genome Biology, 2019-11-25 00:00:00.0; 20(1), p. 249.
EPub date: 2019-11-25 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 31767039
Related Citations

SES and correlated factors do not explain the association between periodontal disease, edentulism, and cancer risk.
Authors: Lu J. , Zaimi I. , Barber J.R. , Joshu C.E. , Prizment A.E. , Beck J.D. , Platz E.A. , Michaud D.S. .
Source: Annals Of Epidemiology, 2019-08-22 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2019-08-22 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 31540766
Related Citations

Absence of an embryonic stem cell DNA methylation signature in human cancer.
Authors: Zhang Z. , Wiencke J.K. , Koestler D.C. , Salas L.A. , Christensen B.C. , Kelsey K.T. .
Source: Bmc Cancer, 2019-07-19 00:00:00.0; 19(1), p. 711.
EPub date: 2019-07-19 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 31324166
Related Citations

Variation in DNA methylation of human blood over a 1-year period using the Illumina MethylationEPIC array.
Authors: Zaimi I. , Pei D. , Koestler D.C. , Marsit C.J. , De Vivo I. , Tworoger S.S. , Shields A.E. , Kelsey K.T. , Michaud D.S. .
Source: Epigenetics, 2018-10-21 00:00:00.0; , p. 1-16.
EPub date: 2018-10-21 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 30270718
Related Citations

Tracing human stem cell lineage during development using DNA methylation.
Authors: Salas L.A. , Wiencke J.K. , Koestler D.C. , Zhang Z. , Christensen B.C. , Kelsey K.T. .
Source: Genome Research, 2018-08-02 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2018-08-02 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 30072366
Related Citations

An optimized library for reference-based deconvolution of whole-blood biospecimens assayed using the Illumina HumanMethylationEPIC BeadArray.
Authors: Salas L.A. , Koestler D.C. , Butler R.A. , Hansen H.M. , Wiencke J.K. , Kelsey K.T. , Christensen B.C. .
Source: Genome Biology, 2018-05-29 00:00:00.0; 19(1), p. 64.
EPub date: 2018-05-29 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 29843789
Related Citations

Immunomethylomics: A Novel Cancer Risk Prediction Tool.
Authors: Kelsey K.T. , Wiencke J.K. .
Source: Annals Of The American Thoracic Society, 2018 Apr; 15(Supplement_2), p. S76-S80.
PMID: 29676642
Related Citations

Maternal serum PFOA concentration and DNA methylation in cord blood: A pilot study.
Authors: Kingsley S.L. , Kelsey K.T. , Butler R. , Chen A. , Eliot M.N. , Romano M.E. , Houseman A. , Koestler D.C. , Lanphear B.P. , Yolton K. , et al. .
Source: Environmental Research, 2017 10; 158, p. 174-178.
EPub date: 2017-06-20 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 28645023
Related Citations

Immunomethylomic approach to explore the blood neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in glioma survival.
Authors: Wiencke J.K. , Koestler D.C. , Salas L.A. , Wiemels J.L. , Roy R.P. , Hansen H.M. , Rice T. , McCoy L.S. , Bracci P.M. , Molinaro A.M. , et al. .
Source: Clinical Epigenetics, 2017; 9, p. 10.
EPub date: 2017-02-02 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 28184256
Related Citations

A new timepiece: an epigenetic mitotic clock.
Authors: Christensen B.C. , Kelsey K.T. .
Source: Genome Biology, 2016-10-19 00:00:00.0; 17(1), p. 216.
EPub date: 2016-10-19 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 27760549
Related Citations

Epigenetic epidemiology as a tool to understand the role of immunity in chronic disease.
Authors: Nelson H.H. , Kelsey K.T. .
Source: Epigenomics, 2016 08; 8(8), p. 1007-9.
EPub date: 2016-07-13 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 27411030
Related Citations