MGMT-Methylated Alleles Are Distributed Heterogeneously Within Glioma Samples Irrespective of IDH Status and Chromosome 10q Deletion

Several molecular markers drive diagnostic classification, prognostic stratification, and/or prediction of response to therapy in patients with gliomas. Among them, IDH gene mutations are valuable markers for defining subtypes and are strongly associated with epigenetic silencing of the methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) gene. However, little is known about the percentage of MGMT-methylated alleles in IDH-mutated cells or the potential association between MGMT methylation and deletion of chromosome 10q, which encompasses the MGMT locus. Here, we quantitatively assessed MGMT methylation and IDH1 mutation in 208 primary glioma samples to explore possible differences associated with the IDH genotype. We also explored a potential association between MGMT methylation and loss of chromosome 10q. We observed that MGMT methylation was heterogeneously distributed within glioma samples irrespective of IDH status suggesting an incomplete overlap between IDH1-mutated and MGMT-methylated alleles and indicating a partial association between these 2 events. Moreover, loss of one MGMT allele did not affect the methylation level of the remaining allele. MGMT was methylated in about half of gliomas harboring a 10q deletion; in those cases, loss of heterozygosity might be considered a second hit leading to complete inactivation of MGMT and further contributing to tumor progression.

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome prenatal diagnosis by methylation analysis in chorionic villi

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is an imprinting disorder that can be prenatally suspected or diagnosed based on established clinical guidelines. Molecular confirmation is commonly performed on amniocytes. The possibility to use fresh (CVF) and cultured (CVC) chorionic villi has never been investigated. To verify whether CVF and CVC are reliable sources of DNA to study fetal methylation, we used pyrosequencing to test the methylation level of a number of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) at several imprinted loci (ICR1, ICR2, H19, PWS/AS-ICR, GNASXL, GNAS1A, ZAC/PLAGL1, and MEST) and at non-imprinted MGMT and RASSF1A promoters. We analyzed these regions in 19 healthy pregnancies and highlighted stable methylation levels between CVF and CVC at ICR1, ICR2, GNASXL, PWS/AS-ICR, and MEST. Conversely, the methylation levels at H19 promoter, GNAS1A and ZAC/PLAGL1 were different in CVC compared to fresh CV. We also investigated ICR1 and ICR2 methylation level of CVF/CVC of 2 BWS-suspected fetuses (P1 and P2). P1 showed ICR2 hypomethylation, P2 showed normal methylation at both ICR1 and ICR2. Our findings, although limited to one case of BWS fetus with an imprinting defect, can suggest that ICR1 and ICR2, but not H19, could be reliable targets for prenatal BWS diagnosis by methylation test in CVF and CVC. In addition, PWS/AS-ICR, GNASXL, and MEST, but not GNAS1A and ZAC/PLAGL1, are steadily hemimethylated in CV from healthy pregnancies, independently from culture. Thus, prenatal investigation of genomic imprinting in CV needs to be validated in a locus-specific manner.