Dados do Resumo

Título

DNA methylation pattern in children with germ cell tumors

Introdução

Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are rare and their incidence is increasing and now represents about 10% of adolescent diagnoses. GCT originate from totipotent germ cells and can occur in both gonadal and extragonadal sites. Diagnosis involves the detection of tumor markers such as β-hCG and alpha-fetoprotein. DNA methylation plays an important role in the development and progression of GCTs, influencing tumor histology and treatment sensitivity. However, there is a limited information available regarding the methylation profile in GCTs pediatric patients.

Objetivo

This study aims to analyze the DNA methylation profile in pediatric patients with GCTs.

Métodos

The study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Barretos Cancer Hospital (Approval n. 2367/2022). Methylation analysis will be performed on 45 patients treated at the Barretos Children’s Cancer Hospital. Sociodemographic data will be collected from electronic medical records, and the methylation profile will be assessed using the Illumina MethylationEPIC v2.0 Kit. Methylation data will be analyzed using the minfi package, with statistical analyses performed in RStudio. The resulting methylation profiles will be correlated with the clinical-pathological characteristics of pediatric patients with GCTs.

Resultados

We anticipate that methylation profiles will differ between histological types and will correlate with clinical-pathological characteristics. These finding could support the development of classification algorithms for pediatric GCTs.

Conclusões

Understanding the methylation profile in patients with GCTs may lead to improvements in clinical management, enhance quality of life, and positively impact overall survival.

Financiador do resumo

Barretos Cancer Hospital and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel – Brazil (CAPES).

Palavras Chave

Pediatric tumors; Germ cell tumors; DNA methylation