Distinct DNA methylation signatures associated with blood lipids as exposures or outcomes among survivors of childhood cancer: a report from the St. Jude lifetime cohort

Dong, Qian; Chen, Cheng; Song, Nan; Qin, Na; Plonski, Noel-Marie; Finch, Emily R.; Shelton, Kyla; Easton, John; Mulder, Heather; Plyer, Emily; Neale, Geoffrey; Walker, Emily; Li, Qian; Huang, I-Chan; Zhang, Jinghui; Wang, Hui; Hudson, Melissa M.; Robison, Leslie L.; Ness, Kirsten K.; Wang, Zhaoming

doi:10.1186/s13148-023-01447-3

Table 1 Characteristics of the SJLIFE study population

From: Distinct DNA methylation signatures associated with blood lipids as exposures or outcomes among survivors of childhood cancer: a report from the St. Jude lifetime cohort

Characteristic	Survivors of European ancestry		Survivors of African ancestry		P^a
Characteristic	n	(%)	n	(%)	P^a
Total	2052	(100.0)	370	(100.0)
Sex					0.03
Male	1084	(52.8)	173	(46.8)
Female	968	(47.2)	197	(53.2)
Diagnosis
Leukemia	699	(34.1)	77	(20.8)	< 0.0001
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia	644	(31.4)	67	(18.1)
Acute myeloid leukemia	53	(2.6)	9	(2.4)
Other leukemia	2	(0.1)	1	(0.3)
Lymphoma	448	(21.8)	69	(18.6)	0.17
Hodgkin lymphoma	288	(14.0)	45	(12.2)
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	160	(7.8)	24	(6.5)
Sarcoma	274	(13.4)	56	(15.1)	0.36
Ewing sarcoma	74	(3.6)	2	(0.5)
Osteosarcoma	74	(3.6)	18	(4.9)
Rhabdomyosarcoma	71	(3.5)	18	(4.9)
Soft tissue sarcoma	55	(2.7)	18	(4.9)
CNS tumors	231	(11.3)	45	(12.2)	0.61
Astrocytoma or glioma	93	(4.5)	18	(4.9)
Medulloblastoma or PNET	56	(2.7)	10	(2.7)
Ependymoma	26	(1.3)	5	(1.4)
Other CNS tumors	56	(2.7)	12	(3.2)
Embryonal	276	(13.5)	81	(21.9)	< 0.0001
Wilms tumor	134	(6.5)	44	(11.9)
Neuroblastoma	107	(5.2)	14	(3.8)
Germ cell tumor	35	(1.7)	23	(6.2)
Other	124	(6.0)	42	(11.4)	0.0002
Retinoblastoma	45	(2.2)	21	(5.7)
Hepatoblastoma	13	(0.6)	2	(0.5)
Melanoma	12	(0.6)	2	(0.5)
Carcinomas	24	(1.2)	14	(3.8)
Others	30	(1.5)	3	(0.8)
Chemotherapy
Alkylating agent, classical	1194	(58.2)	202	(54.6)	0.20
Alkylating agent, heavy metal	239	(11.7)	63	(17.0)	0.004
Alkylating agent, nonclassical	67	(3.3)	12	(3.2)	0.98
Anthracyclines	1190	(58.0)	180	(48.6)	0.0008
Antimetabolites	1024	(49.9)	133	(35.9)	< 0.0001
Asparaginase enzymes	631	(30.8)	76	(20.5)	< 0.0001
Epipodophyllotoxins	709	(34.6)	108	(29.2)	0.04
Corticosteroids	965	(47.0)	122	(33.0)	< 0.0001
Vinca alkaloids	1482	(72.2)	236	(63.8)	0.0009
Radiation therapy, region exposed
Brain	629	(30.7)	98	(26.5)	0.11
Chest	577	(28.1)	102	(27.6)	0.83
Abdominal	412	(20.1)	84	(22.7)	0.25
Pelvic	352	(17.2)	80	(21.6)	0.04
Tobacco smoking status					0.11
Never smoking	956	(46.6)	183	(49.5)
Ever smoking	349	(17.0)	51	(13.8)
Unknown	747	(36.4)	136	(36.8)
Lipid control medication before DNA sampling					0.03
Never used	1887	(92.0)	352	(95.1)
Ever used	165	(8.0)	18	(4.9)
Lipid control medication after DNA sampling					0.06
Never used	1958	(95.4)	361	(97.6)
Ever used	94	(4.6)	9	(2.4)

Chronic health condition (Weighted average, mg/dL)	n	Mean ± SD	n	Mean ± SD	P^a
Triglycerides, exposure	734	125.3 ± 92.9	117	81.2 ± 46.6	< 0.0001
Triglycerides, outcome	1126	130.6 ± 98.0	197	83.4 ± 47.8	< 0.0001
Total cholesterol, exposure	734	179.2 ± 34.9	117	171.3 ± 32.3	0.02
Total cholesterol, outcome	1124	182.3 ± 39.2	197	163.8 ± 48.0	< 0.0001
High-density lipoprotein, Exposure	734	51.1 ± 14.7	117	57.2 ± 14.2	< 0.0001
High-density lipoprotein, Outcome	1124	50.5 ± 16.3	197	52.3 ± 20.0	0.21
Low-density lipoprotein, Exposure	717	103.6 ± 29.6	116	98.3 ± 28.4	0.08
Low-density lipoprotein, Outcome	1092	106.1 ± 31.5	196	95.0 ± 35.3	< 0.0001
Body mass index, kg/m²	2051	28.5 ± 7.4	368	29.2 ± 8.0	0.13

	Median	Range	Median	Range	P^a
Age at DNA sampling, years	32.3	18.0, 66.4	29.6	18.4, 65.1	< 0.0001
Median age of multiple lipid measurements, years^b
Exposure	30.0	14.6, 65.1	26.6	15.2, 56.6	0.03
Outcome	35.3	19.6, 67.8	34.0	20.0, 67.5	0.01
Time duration between DNA sampling and median age of multiple lipid measurements, years
Exposure	1.6	0.0, 5.3	1.6	0.5, 5.1	0.41
Outcome	2.2	0.0, 5.5	2.3	0.1, 16.6	0.44

CNS central nervous system, IQR interquartile range, PNET primitive neuroectodermal tumor
^aChi-square test for categorical variables, Student’s t-test for continuous variables. Distribution differences for both age and time duration were assessed by Wilcoxon rank sum test
^bThe median age of multiple lipid measurements for each survivor was calculated, and the median across all survivors was subsequently derived

Back to article page