Critical tumor suppression pathways in brain tumors have yet to be fully defined. Along with mutational analyses, genome-wide epigenetic investigations may reveal novel suppressor elements. Using differential methylation hybridization, we identified a CpG-rich region of the promoter of the dual-specificity mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-2 gene (DUSP4/MKP-2) that is hypermethylated...

Physical activity reduces breast cancer risk. Promoter hypermethylation of the tumor suppressor genes APC and RASSF1A , which is potentially reversible, is associated with breast cancer risk. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 45 women without breast cancer to determine the association of physical activity with promoter hypermethylation of APC and RASSF1A in breast tissue. We used quantita...

PURPOSE LATS1 and LATS2 are tumor suppressor genes implicated in the regulation of cell cycle. Methylation status of the promoter regions of these genes as well as its correlation with their mRNA levels were studied in human breast cancers. Correlation of LATS1 and LATS2 mRNA levels with clinicopathologic characteristics of breast tumors were also studied. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Methylation stat...

OBJECTIVE Inactivation of the FA-BRCA pathway results in chromosomal instability. Fanconi anaemia (FA) patients have an inherited defect in this pathway and are strongly predisposed to the development of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Studies in sporadic cancers have shown promoter methylation of the FANCF gene in a significant proportion of various solid tumours. However, only a single leukaem...

Functional inactivation of the p16INK4a gene has been reported to be involved in the development of a variety of human malignancies. Recent evidence shows that transcriptional silencing as a consequence of hypermethylation of CpG islands is the predominant mechanism of p16INK4a gene inactivation in sporadic colon cancer. This study sought to identify the significance of p16INK4a methylation in ...

TU3A, located on 3p21.1, was originally identified as a candidate tumor suppressor gene in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Recently, down-regulation of TU3A expression has been reported not only in RCC but also in other types of cancers. However, no studies have evaluated the mechanism underlying TU3A inactivation. In the present study, we first examined the expression and promoter CpG island methy...

Sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) is characterized by genetic and epigenetic changes such as regional DNA hypermethylation and global DNA hypomethylation. Epidemiological and animal studies suggest that aberrant DNA methylation is associated with low dietary folate intake, which is aggravated by high alcohol intake. The relationship between promoter methylation of genes involved in CRC carcinoge...

AIMS AND BACKGROUND The mechanism of human MutL Homolog (hMLH1) gene transcriptional inactivation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still unclear. The aim of this study is to further investigate the main mechanism of hMLH1 gene inactivation in NSCLC samples of Chinese patients. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN This study was performed in surgically resected primary tumor and matched normal tis...

PURPOSE Promoter hypermethylation has been recognized to play an important role in carcinogenesis. Numerous studies have demonstrated tumor-specific alterations, such as aberrant promoter hypermethylation, in DNA recovered from plasma or serum of patients with various malignancies. The aim of this study was to investigate the methylation status of various genes in cervical cancer patients and t...