Qiao R, Li M, Zhong R, et al. - Findings demonstrate a novel relationship between blood-based aberrant PNPLA2 (Patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 2) methylation and lung cancer (LC) at a very early stage and especially for females at a younger age. Overall, this study’s observations have proved the hypothesis stating that the altered methylation in the peripheral blood may be correlated with the burden of cancer at an early stage.

• In 168 early-stage LC cases (94.0% LC at stage I) and 187 age- and gender-matched cancer-free controls, DNA methylation levels of 21 CpG sites within the PNPLA2 gene were measured in the peripheral blood.

• Correlation of PNPLA2_CpG_8,10 hypomethylation and PNPLA2_CpG_9 hypermethylation with early-stage LC was evident, with the odds ratios of 1.44 and 0.82, respectively.

• Even for the very early-stage LC patients (stage I), the links were significant.

• Only females and individuals younger than 55 years showed the link between hypomethylation of PNPLA2_CpG_8,10 and LC.

• Additionally, the younger population also showed a connection between LC and hypermethylation of PNPLA2_CpG_6 and PNPLA2_CpG_9.