Unique Association between Global DNA Hypomethylation and Chromosomal Alterations in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Figure 5
Association of FAL score and methylation status of repetitive DNA and TSG promoter in HCCs.
Comparisons of FAL score (%) between HCCs with significant or slight hypomethylation at repetitive DNA (A, C), and between tumors with extensive or limited hypermethylation at TSG promoter (B, D) in well-differentiated and moderately/poorly differentiated HCCs. ‘Well-diff.’ denotes well-differentiated tumors and ‘Mod/Poor diff.’ denotes moderately/poorly differentiated tumors. Tumors were classified as having significant or slight hypomethylation following hierarchical clustering analysis of methylation levels at three repetitive DNA sequences (Alu, LINE-1 and SAT2: Figure S2A, S2C). Similarly, tumors were classified as having extensive or limited TSG hypermethylation following hierarchical clustering analysis of methylation levels at 12 TSGs/MINT loci that are frequently involved in HCC (Figure S2B, S2D). n = number of FAL scores in each group. Box and whisker plots denote 75% and 95% distribution; lines in the boxes denote median values; diamonds and lines within the diamonds indicate the mean and 95% CIs, respectively. *, p = 0.0011 by Student’s t-test and p = 0.0015 by Wilcoxon rank-sum test; **, p = 0.0089 by Student’s t-test and p = 0.0270 by Wilcoxon rank-sum test.