Drug Response Associated With and Prognostic lncRNAs Mediated by DNA Methylation and Transcription Factors in Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. As well as lifestyle, genetic and epigenetic changes are key factors that influence the risk of colon cancer. However, the impact of epigenetic alterations in non-coding RNAs and their consequences in colon cancer have not been fully characterized. We detected differential methylation sites (DMSs) in long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) promoters and identified lncRNA expression quantitative trait methylations (lncQTMs) by association tests. To investigate how transcription factor (TF) binding was affected by DNA methylation, we characterized the occurrence of known TFs among DMSs collected from the MEME suite. We further combined methylome and transcriptome data to construct TF–methylation–lncRNA relationships. To study the role of lncRNAs in drug response, we used pharmacological and lncRNA profiles from the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and investigated the association between lncRNAs and drug activity. We also used combinations of TF–methylation–lncRNA relationships to stratify patient survival using a risk model. DNA methylation sites displayed global hyper-methylation in lncRNA promoters and tended to have negative relationships with the corresponding lncRNAs. Negative lncQTMs located near transcription start sites (TSSs) had more significant correlations with the corresponding lncRNAs. Some lncRNAs found to be mediated by the interplay between DNA methylation and TFs were previously identified as markers for colon cancer. We also found that the ELF1-cg05372727- LINC00460 relationship were prognostic signatures for colon cancer. These findings suggest that lncRNAs mediated by the interplay between DNA methylation and TFs are promising predictors of drug response, and that combined TF–methylation–lncRNA can serve as a prognostic signature for colon cancer.