PHLDA2 and nonpapillary renal cell carcinoma: It turned out that lower level of methylation level in cg05167973 (r = − 0.14, p < 0.05), cg04720330 (r = − 0.24, p < 0.05), cg21259253 (r = − 0.13, p < 0.05), cg07482372 (r = − 0.13, p < 0.05) and cg26799802 (r = − 0.13, p < 0.05) was associated with increased PHLDA2 expression, indicating that elevated expression of PHLDA2 in ccRCC could be attributed to methylation modification (Fig. 2O).