MethMarkerDB: a comprehensive cancer DNA methylation biomarker database

Abstract

DNA methylation plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression, sparking substantial interest in the clinical applications of cancer DNA methylation biomarkers. Cancer-related whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data offers a promising approach to precisely identify these biomarkers with differentially methylated regions (DMRs). However, currently there is no dedicated resource for cancer DNA methylation biomarkers with WGBS data. Here, we developed a comprehensive cancer DNA methylation biomarker database (MethMarkerDB, https://methmarkerdb.hzau.edu.cn/), which integrated 658 WGBS datasets, incorporating 724 curated DNA methylation biomarker genes from 1425 PubMed published articles. Based on WGBS data, we documented 5.4 million DMRs from 13 common types of cancer as candidate DNA methylation biomarkers. We provided search and annotation functions for these DMRs with different resources, such as enhancers and SNPs, and developed diagnostic and prognostic models for further biomarker evaluation. With the database, we not only identified known DNA methylation biomarkers, but also identified 781 hypermethylated and 5245 hypomethylated pan-cancer DMRs, corresponding to 693 and 2172 genes, respectively. These novel potential pan-cancer DNA methylation biomarkers hold significant clinical translational value. We hope that MethMarkerDB will help identify novel cancer DNA methylation biomarkers and propel the clinical application of these biomarkers.