DNA Methylation and Gene Expression with Clinical Covariates Explain Variation in Aggressiveness and Survival of Pancreatic Cancer Patients.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is associated with a high mortality rate. We explored the interindividual variation of cancer outcomes, attributable to DNA methylation, gene expression, and clinical factors among PC patients. We aim to determine whether we could differentiate subjects with greater nodal involvement, higher cancer staging, and subsequent survival. We modeled every response variable as a function of a linear predictor involving the effects of clinical variables, methylation, and gene expression in a Bayesian framework. Our results highlight the overall importance of wide-spread alterations in methylation and gene expression patterns associated with survival, nodal metastasis, and staging.