Metastasis-associated DNA methylation of the lncRNAs LINC01354 and LINC01510 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate multiple cellular processes and are involved in the development and progression of human cancers, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Methods Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling using Illumina EPIC arrays was performed to identify differentially methylated regions (DMR) associated with metastatic RCC. Candidate loci within LINC01354 and LINC01510 were validated by pyrosequencing in 145 primary RCC tissues, 124 paired tumor-adjacent normal tissues (adNs), and 194 metastatic tissue samples obtained from 101 patients with metastatic RCC. In addition, data from The Cancer Genome Atlas Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma Collection (TCGA-KIRC) were analyzed in silico to assess the clinical relevance of DNA methylation (DNAm) and its association with gene expression. Results Hypermethylation across all analyzed CpG sites at both loci was associated with high-stage (≥ T3; p = 0.001) and high-grade (≥ G3; p = 0.003) RCC and was markedly increased in metastatic tissues compared with localized primary tumors ( p < 0.001). In addition, primary tumors from patients with distant metastases (M+) showed significantly higher methylation at PS_307-CG1 within LINC01510 than tumors from patients without distant metastases (M0; p = 0.031). Analyses of TCGA-KIRC data confirmed associations of increased methylation with adverse clinicopathological features and reduced gene expression, supporting a potential role for epigenetic silencing. Conclusion Our data provide further insight into the epigenetic alterations associated with RCC progression by demonstrating tumor- and metastasis-associated hypermethylation at the LINC01354 and LINC01510 loci. The association of hypermethylation with advanced disease and metastatic tissues, together with the observed inverse relationship between methylation and expression, suggests that epigenetic inactivation of these lncRNAs may contribute to RCC progression. DNAm at these loci may therefore represent a potential biomarker of aggressive disease.