Colon cancer CIMP project proposal

Aim1: Characterize CIMP phenotype in colon cancer using the 450k arrays

–Identify patient groups in relation to characteristic DNA methylation signature (CIMP)

–Where does it occur? CpG islands/shores/shelves

–Any correlation with overall survival/presence of (no information available) metastasis, tumor stage, lymphocyte invasion

–Methods: comethylation networks and clustering

Aim2:  Characterize CIMP phenotype in relation to the gene mutations 

- All genes with the focus on the known players such as KRAS and BRAF

-Focus on epigenes (EZH2, DNMT, etc)

-Casual relationship between mutations and CIMP (what comes first)

Aim3: Compare rectal and colon cancer in relation to CIMP (as 450k array data for READ arrive?)