Comprehensive interrogation of CpG island methylation in the gene encoding COMT, a key estrogen and catecholamine regulator

Table 4 Gene expression versus COMT methylation in human cell lines

CpG units	Spearman’s *rho*	95% C.I.	*p value*
001_1	-.252	(-.923, .493)	.483
001_5	-.220	(-.886, .415)	.541
001_30	-.171	(-.889, .712)	.636
001_32	.020	(-.837, .808)	.956
001_33	-.049	(-.879, .698)	.894
001_avg	-.479	(-.950, .324)	.162
005_4	-.377	(-.808, .401)	.283
005_7	-.455	(-.920, .358)	.187
005_8	-.198	(-.863, .519)	.584
005_9	-.127	(-.801, .680)	.726
005_10	-.206	(-.808, .615)	.567
005_11	-.105	(-.801, .699)	.773
005_12	-.334	(-.849, .472)	.345
005_17	-.079	(-.892, .690)	.828
005_18	-.421	(-.919, .377)	.226
005_avg	-.333	(-.796, .405)	.347
006_3	-.683	(-.820, -.525)	.029*
006_5	-.806	(-.968, -.245)	.005**
006_9	-.782	(-.988, -.305)	.008**
006_12	-.733	(-.987, -.119)	.016*
006_13	*-.860*	*(-.990, -.472)*	.001**
006_avg	-.766	(-.963, -.082)	.010*

Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated using a bootstrapping procedure based on log relative gene expression between ABI TaqMan probes for COMT and an 18S rRNA endogenous control with percent methylation values for CpG units in the top 40^th percentile for differential methylation within the cell line samples. Methylation of COMT within amplicon 006 was significantly inversely correlated with COMT expression, with coefficients ranging from -0.683 to -0.860 (p = 0.029–0.001). Results are based on n = 10 tumors for which there were both complete methylation and gene expression data. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, uncorrected for FWE, FDR corrected (p < .05).

ISSN: 1755-8794