Diagnostic and prognostic DNA methylation biomarkers of renal clear cell carcinoma

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type of kidney tumor with the highest incidence rates in Lithuania. CcRCC is characterized by the highest mortality rate of genitourinary cancers, therefore, new diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers are urgently needed. Considering this, the current study aimed to develop a gene-specific DNA methylation tool for non-invasive and early kidney cancer diagnosis and follow-up. Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling utilizing microarrays allowed the identification of a set of novel presumable ccRCC-specific DNA methylation biomarkers, having moderate to high diagnostic and/or prognostic potential. Moreover, identified DNA methylation alterations at the regulatory regions of selected genes appeared to be amenable for non-invasive detection in the urine samples of ccRCC patients, where they outperformed the diagnostic and prognostic value of previously described biomarkers and even some other parameters currently used in the clinical practice. Thus, the results showed the promising potential of the chosen genes as candidates for further development of non-invasive tools for kidney cancer patients testing. Although further comprehensive verification is mandatory to prove the clinical significance of the provided DNA methylation biomarkers for ccRCC, the obtained results seem to be rather promising and will definitely encourage these validation studies