In silico epigenetic profiling of hypermethylated genes in non-small cell lung cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer today has several reported testimonies of aberrant promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressing genes. In this study, a group of five genes (CDKN2A, APC, MGMT, DAPK and RASSF1) have been evaluated, using epigenetic tools and techniques to investigate their frequency of hypermethylation, prediction of CpG islands and expected primers along with their phylogenetic relationships (to analyze these prospective biomarkers) and their possible substitutes to enhance their clinical potential as drug treatment targets. During the course of research, Adenomatosis Polyposis Coli Tumor Suppressor gene, an antagonist of the Wnt signaling pathway, was seen to show maximum methylation frequency of 48 % at 223, 243, 250, 255 and 262 bp and be closely related to DAPK2 gene using phylogenetic analysis, suggesting that both of these genes can act as possible novel targets for designing drugs for non-small cell lung cancer.