Correlation between gene methylation status and clinical features
Esophageal Carcinoma (Primary solid tumor)
15 July 2014  |  analyses__2014_07_15
Maintainer Information
Citation Information
Maintained by Juok Cho (Broad Institute)
Cite as Broad Institute TCGA Genome Data Analysis Center (2014): Correlation between gene methylation status and clinical features. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. doi:10.7908/C1R21039
Overview
Introduction

This pipeline uses various statistical tests to identify genes whose promoter methylation levels correlated to selected clinical features.

Summary

Testing the association between 19877 genes and 9 clinical features across 127 samples, statistically thresholded by P value < 0.05 and Q value < 0.3, 6 clinical features related to at least one genes.

  • 167 genes correlated to 'AGE'.

    • KRBA2 ,  NKX6-1 ,  BEND6 ,  DST ,  SHOX2 ,  ...

  • 1 gene correlated to 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'.

    • ARL4C

  • 5 genes correlated to 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'.

    • CYB561 ,  C20ORF118 ,  VEGFA ,  CCDC90A ,  RNF125

  • 3 genes correlated to 'GENDER'.

    • ALG11__1 ,  UTP14C ,  KIF4B

  • 2 genes correlated to 'NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED'.

    • GNA11 ,  ZFAND1

  • 1643 genes correlated to 'RACE'.

    • LASP1 ,  TPCN1__1 ,  CTBP2 ,  YEATS2 ,  HOXD11 ,  ...

  • No genes correlated to 'Time to Death', 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE', and 'PATHOLOGY.M.STAGE'.

Results
Overview of the results

Complete statistical result table is provided in Supplement Table 1

Table 1.  Get Full Table This table shows the clinical features, statistical methods used, and the number of genes that are significantly associated with each clinical feature at P value < 0.05 and Q value < 0.3.

Clinical feature Statistical test Significant genes Associated with                 Associated with
Time to Death Cox regression test   N=0        
AGE Spearman correlation test N=167 older N=96 younger N=71
NEOPLASM DISEASESTAGE Kruskal-Wallis test N=1        
PATHOLOGY T STAGE Spearman correlation test N=5 higher stage N=5 lower stage N=0
PATHOLOGY N STAGE Spearman correlation test   N=0        
PATHOLOGY M STAGE Kruskal-Wallis test   N=0        
GENDER Wilcoxon test N=3 male N=3 female N=0
NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED Spearman correlation test N=2 higher numberpackyearssmoked N=1 lower numberpackyearssmoked N=1
RACE Kruskal-Wallis test N=1643        
Clinical variable #1: 'Time to Death'

No gene related to 'Time to Death'.

Table S1.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'Time to Death'

Time to Death Duration (Months) 0-122.1 (median=5.4)
  censored N = 81
  death N = 38
     
  Significant markers N = 0
Clinical variable #2: 'AGE'

167 genes related to 'AGE'.

Table S2.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'AGE'

AGE Mean (SD) 63.64 (13)
  Significant markers N = 167
  pos. correlated 96
  neg. correlated 71
List of top 10 genes differentially expressed by 'AGE'

Table S3.  Get Full Table List of top 10 genes significantly correlated to 'AGE' by Spearman correlation test

SpearmanCorr corrP Q
KRBA2 0.4938 3.644e-09 7.24e-05
NKX6-1 0.4902 4.93e-09 9.8e-05
BEND6 0.4629 4.247e-08 0.000844
DST 0.4629 4.247e-08 0.000844
SHOX2 0.4559 7.223e-08 0.00144
WNT2B 0.4488 1.206e-07 0.0024
NAV1 0.4473 1.352e-07 0.00269
ELOVL2 0.437 2.794e-07 0.00555
C14ORF132 0.4336 3.533e-07 0.00702
GPRC5A -0.4317 4.034e-07 0.00801
Clinical variable #3: 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'

One gene related to 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'.

Table S4.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'

NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE Labels N
  STAGE I 7
  STAGE IA 4
  STAGE IB 5
  STAGE II 1
  STAGE IIA 34
  STAGE IIB 22
  STAGE III 16
  STAGE IIIA 8
  STAGE IIIB 6
  STAGE IIIC 4
  STAGE IV 2
  STAGE IVA 1
     
  Significant markers N = 1
List of one gene differentially expressed by 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'

Table S5.  Get Full Table List of one gene differentially expressed by 'NEOPLASM.DISEASESTAGE'

ANOVA_P Q
ARL4C 1.291e-05 0.257
Clinical variable #4: 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'

5 genes related to 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'.

Table S6.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'

PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE Mean (SD) 2.39 (0.84)
  N
  0 1
  1 20
  2 30
  3 60
  4 3
     
  Significant markers N = 5
  pos. correlated 5
  neg. correlated 0
List of 5 genes differentially expressed by 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE'

Table S7.  Get Full Table List of 5 genes significantly correlated to 'PATHOLOGY.T.STAGE' by Spearman correlation test

SpearmanCorr corrP Q
CYB561 0.4571 3.176e-07 0.00631
C20ORF118 0.4122 5.18e-06 0.103
VEGFA 0.4069 7.025e-06 0.14
CCDC90A 0.3964 1.267e-05 0.252
RNF125 0.3944 1.411e-05 0.28
Clinical variable #5: 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

No gene related to 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'.

Table S8.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE'

PATHOLOGY.N.STAGE Mean (SD) 0.62 (0.77)
  N
  0 59
  1 41
  2 8
  3 4
     
  Significant markers N = 0
Clinical variable #6: 'PATHOLOGY.M.STAGE'

No gene related to 'PATHOLOGY.M.STAGE'.

Table S9.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'PATHOLOGY.M.STAGE'

PATHOLOGY.M.STAGE Labels N
  M0 90
  M1 1
  M1A 2
  MX 17
     
  Significant markers N = 0
Clinical variable #7: 'GENDER'

3 genes related to 'GENDER'.

Table S10.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'GENDER'

GENDER Labels N
  FEMALE 18
  MALE 109
     
  Significant markers N = 3
  Higher in MALE 3
  Higher in FEMALE 0
List of 3 genes differentially expressed by 'GENDER'

Table S11.  Get Full Table List of 3 genes differentially expressed by 'GENDER'. 0 significant gene(s) located in sex chromosomes is(are) filtered out.

W(pos if higher in 'MALE') wilcoxontestP Q AUC
ALG11__1 1831 4.301e-09 8.55e-05 0.9332
UTP14C 1831 4.301e-09 8.55e-05 0.9332
KIF4B 292 1.943e-06 0.0386 0.8512
Clinical variable #8: 'NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED'

2 genes related to 'NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED'.

Table S12.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED'

NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED Mean (SD) 36.68 (21)
  Significant markers N = 2
  pos. correlated 1
  neg. correlated 1
List of 2 genes differentially expressed by 'NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED'

Table S13.  Get Full Table List of 2 genes significantly correlated to 'NUMBERPACKYEARSSMOKED' by Spearman correlation test

SpearmanCorr corrP Q
GNA11 -0.5262 1.241e-06 0.0247
ZFAND1 0.484 1.086e-05 0.216
Clinical variable #9: 'RACE'

1643 genes related to 'RACE'.

Table S14.  Basic characteristics of clinical feature: 'RACE'

RACE Labels N
  ASIAN 36
  BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN 2
  WHITE 84
     
  Significant markers N = 1643
List of top 10 genes differentially expressed by 'RACE'

Table S15.  Get Full Table List of top 10 genes differentially expressed by 'RACE'

ANOVA_P Q
LASP1 7.651e-13 1.52e-08
TPCN1__1 4.098e-12 8.15e-08
CTBP2 6.202e-12 1.23e-07
YEATS2 1.091e-11 2.17e-07
HOXD11 1.752e-11 3.48e-07
TMED6 3.646e-11 7.25e-07
GUCY2C 6.048e-11 1.2e-06
AP2A2 6.187e-11 1.23e-06
RASSF3 7.221e-11 1.43e-06
TMEM51 7.218e-11 1.43e-06
Methods & Data
Input
  • Expresson data file = ESCA-TP.meth.by_min_clin_corr.data.txt

  • Clinical data file = ESCA-TP.merged_data.txt

  • Number of patients = 127

  • Number of genes = 19877

  • Number of clinical features = 9

Survival analysis

For survival clinical features, Wald's test in univariate Cox regression analysis with proportional hazards model (Andersen and Gill 1982) was used to estimate the P values using the 'coxph' function in R. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plot using the four quartile subgroups of patients based on expression levels

Correlation analysis

For continuous numerical clinical features, Spearman's rank correlation coefficients (Spearman 1904) and two-tailed P values were estimated using 'cor.test' function in R

ANOVA analysis

For multi-class clinical features (ordinal or nominal), one-way analysis of variance (Howell 2002) was applied to compare the log2-expression levels between different clinical classes using 'anova' function in R

Student's t-test analysis

For two-class clinical features, two-tailed Student's t test with unequal variance (Lehmann and Romano 2005) was applied to compare the log2-expression levels between the two clinical classes using 't.test' function in R

Q value calculation

For multiple hypothesis correction, Q value is the False Discovery Rate (FDR) analogue of the P value (Benjamini and Hochberg 1995), defined as the minimum FDR at which the test may be called significant. We used the 'Benjamini and Hochberg' method of 'p.adjust' function in R to convert P values into Q values.

Download Results

In addition to the links below, the full results of the analysis summarized in this report can also be downloaded programmatically using firehose_get, or interactively from either the Broad GDAC website or TCGA Data Coordination Center Portal.

References
[1] Andersen and Gill, Cox's regression model for counting processes, a large sample study, Annals of Statistics 10(4):1100-1120 (1982)
[2] Spearman, C, The proof and measurement of association between two things, Amer. J. Psychol 15:72-101 (1904)
[3] Howell, D, Statistical Methods for Psychology. (5th ed.), Duxbury Press:324-5 (2002)
[4] Lehmann and Romano, Testing Statistical Hypotheses (3E ed.), New York: Springer. ISBN 0387988645 (2005)
[5] Benjamini and Hochberg, Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B 59:289-300 (1995)