ArticleClinical epigenetics2015
Epigenome-wide association study reveals decreased average methylation levels years before breast cancer diagnosis.
Article in Clinical epigenetics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 76 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methylation-based markers of aging and lifestyle-related factors and risk of breast cancer: a pooled analysis of four prospective studies.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Blood DNA methylation and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of four prospective cohort studies.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2019Pooled it
- Epigenome-wide association study for lifetime estrogen exposure identifies an epigenetic signature associated with breast cancer risk.Clinical epigenetics · 2019Pooled it
- An epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis of educational attainment.Molecular psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Blood-based DNA methylation as biomarker for breast cancer: a systematic review.Clinical epigenetics · 2016Pooled it
- Prediagnostic White Blood Cell DNA Methylation and Risk of Breast Cancer in the Prostate Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) Cohort.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2021Trial
- DNA methylome analysis identifies accelerated epigenetic ageing associated with postmenopausal breast cancer susceptibility.European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990) · 2017Trial
- The OmniAge compendium of aging omic biomarkers links mitotic clocks to clonal hematopoiesis and causality.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Methylation biomarkers in non-regressive cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 lesions: an epigenome wide association study.British journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Associations between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), DNA methylation and gene expression from background exposed Norwegian women (2003-2006).Scientific reports · 2026Article
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- Synthesis, in-vitro,Toxicology research · 2025Article
- DNA methylation-predicted plasma protein levels and breast cancer risk.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2025Article
- Prediction of Multiple Degenerative Diseases Based on DNA Methylation in a Co-Physiology Mechanisms Perspective.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Exploring cross-tissue DNA methylation patterns: blood-brain CpGs as potential neurodegenerative disease biomarkers.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Methylation marks in blood DNA reveal breast cancer risk in patients fulfilling hereditary disease criteria.NPJ precision oncology · 2024Article
- Circulating tumor DNA: from discovery to clinical application in breast cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- DNA methylation at quantitative trait loci (mQTLs) varies with cell type and nonheritable factors and may improve breast cancer risk assessment.NPJ precision oncology · 2023Article
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
26 authors at 9 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInterest in the potential of DNA methylation in peripheral blood as a biomarker of cancer risk is increasing. We aimed to assess whether epigenome-wide DNA methylation measured in peripheral blood samples obtained before onset of the disease is associated with increased risk of breast cancer. We report on three independent prospective nested case-control studies from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Italy; n = 162 matched case-control pairs), the Norwegian Women and Cancer study (NOWAC; n = 168 matched pairs), and the Breakthrough Generations Study (BGS; n = 548 matched pairs). We used the Illumina 450k array to measure methylation in the EPIC and NOWAC cohorts. Whole-genome bisulphite sequencing (WGBS) was performed on the BGS cohort using pooled DNA samples, combined to reach 50× coverage across ~16 million CpG sites in the genome including 450k array CpG sites. Mean β values over all probes were calculated as a measurement for epigenome-wide methylation.
resultsIn EPIC, we found that high epigenome-wide methylation was associated with lower risk of breast cancer (odds ratio (OR) per 1 SD = 0.61, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.47-0.80; -0.2 % average difference in epigenome-wide methylation for cases and controls). Specifically, this was observed in gene bodies (OR = 0.51, 95 % CI 0.38-0.69) but not in gene promoters (OR = 0.92, 95 % CI 0.64-1.32). The association was not replicated in NOWAC (OR = 1.03 95 % CI 0.81-1.30). The reasons for heterogeneity across studies are unclear. However, data from the BGS cohort was consistent with epigenome-wide hypomethylation in breast cancer cases across the overlapping 450k probe sites (difference in average epigenome-wide methylation in case and control DNA pools = -0.2 %).
conclusionsWe conclude that epigenome-wide hypomethylation of DNA from pre-diagnostic blood samples may be predictive of breast cancer risk and may thus be useful as a clinical biomarker.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.