Methylation changes at the GNAS imprinted locus in pancreatic cystic neoplasms are important for the diagnosis of malignant cysts

Table 3 Correlation between methylation status and malignancy with partial correlation controlling for patients’ gender and age

Rank correlation	Kendall		Partial
Possible confounders			Gender	Age
Malignant cysts	Correlation	P value	Correlation	Correlation
NESP55 hypermethylation	0.539	0.003	0.545	0.519
GNASAS hypermethylation	0.431	0.015	0.459	0.584
GNASXL hypermethylation	0.434	0.011	0.461	0.356
GNAS1A hypermethylation	0.160	0.361	0.191	0.147
GNAS locus methylation changes	0.837	<0.001	0.870	0.825

GNAS: Guanine nucleotide-binding protein, alpha stimulating.