A Panel of Differentially Methylated Putative Imprinting Control Regions Associated with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

However, findings are difficult to replicate as methylation patterns at many of these sites do not always correlate with those in liver tissue. An exception is methylation at imprinting control regions (ICRs), which regulate the monoallelic expression of imprinted genes, a developmentally critical process requiring parental allele-specific DNA methylation that is consistent across cell types.

Aberrant methylation of several ICRs have been linked to advanced liver disease or HCC. We aim to create a DNA methylation-based risk stratification panel to improve early detection and triaging of patients before the onset of HCC in those at increased risk. From whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) of mixed leukocyte-derived DNA of HCC cases and controls, 1,519 regions were significantly differentially methylated.