Methylation of immune-regulatory cytokine genes and pancreatic cancer outcomes

Aim:Given the immunosuppressive nature of pancreatic cancer, we investigated the relationship between epigenetic modification of immune-regulatory cytokine genes and pancreatic cancer outcomes.Materials & methods:We evaluated DNA methylation of 184 pancreatic tumor samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas for 111 CpG loci in seven cytokine genes:IL10,IL6,IL8,TGF beta 1,TGF beta 2,TGF beta 3andTNF. We used Cox regression to evaluate the associations between methylation and overall survival, disease-specific survival and disease progression (alpha = 0.05).Results:Poorer survival was associated with increased methylation in fifteen CpG probes inTGF beta 1,TGF beta 2,TGF beta 3andTNF. We also detected improved outcomes for three loci inIL10,IL8andIL6.Conclusion:Epigenetic regulation of cytokine-related gene expression may be associated with pancreatic cancer outcomes.