Comparison of tumor and two types of paratumoral tissues highlighted epigenetic regulation of transcription during field cancerization in non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Field cancerization is the process in which a population of normal or pre-malignant cells is affected by oncogenic alterations leading to progressive molecular changes that drive malignant transformation. Aberrant DNA methylation has been implicated in early cancer development in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, studies on its role in field cancerization (FC) are limited. This study aims to identify FC-specific methylation patterns that could distinguish between pre-malignant lesions and tumor tissues in NSCLC. METHODS: We enrolled 52 patients with resectable NSCLC and collected resected tumor (TUM), tumor-adjacent (ADJ) and tumor-distant normal (DIS) tissue samples, among whom 36 qualified for subsequent analyses. Methylation levels were profiled by bisulfite sequencing using a custom lung-cancer methylation panel. RESULTS: ADJ and DIS samples demonstrated similar methylation profiles, which were distinct from distinct from that of TUM. Comparison of TUM and DIS profiles led to identification of 1740 tumor-specific differential methylated regions (DMRs), including 1675 hypermethylated and 65 hypomethylated (adjusted P < 0.05). Six of the top 10 tumor-specific hypermethylated regions were associated with cancer development. We then compared the TUM, ADJ, and DIS to further identify the progressively aggravating aberrant methylations during cancer initiation and early development. A total of 332 DMRs were identified, including a predominant proportion of 312 regions showing stepwise increase in methylation levels as the sample drew nearer to the tumor (i.e. DIS < ADJ < TUM) and 20 regions showing a stepwise decrease pattern. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) for KEGG and GO terms consistently suggested enrichment of DMRs located in transcription factor genes, suggesting a central role of epigenetic regulation of transcription factors in FC and tumorigenesis. CONCLUSION: We revealed distinct methylation patterns between pre-malignant lesions and malignant tumors, suggesting the essential role of DNA methylation as an early step in pre-malignant field defects. Moreover, our study also identified differentially methylated genes, especially transcription factors, that could potentially be used as markers for lung cancer screening and for mechanistic studies of FC and early cancer development. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12920-022-01192-1.