Obesity-associated methylation in breast tumors: a possible link to disparate outcomes?

Purpose As a primary risk factor and modifier of breast cancer incidence and prognosis, obesity may contribute to race disparities in breast cancer outcomes. This study examined association between obesity and DNA methylation in non-Hispanic Black and White women diagnosed with breast cancer. Methods Genome-wide DNA methylation was measured in the breast cancer tumor tissue of 96 women using the EPIC array. To examine the association between obesity and tumor methylation, linear regression models were used—regressing methylation β value for each cytosine and guanine (CpG) site on body mass index adjusting for covariates. Significance was set at false discovery rate (FDR)