Liver kinase B1 (LKB1) loss is a common occurrence in various types of human cancer, and promoter methylation has been hypothesized to be a major mechanism of LKB1 inactivation. The association between LKB1 gene promoter methylation status and tumor progression in cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) remains unknown. In the present study, the methylation status of the LKB1 promoter region was exa...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Epigenetic alterations, in addition to multiple gene abnormalities, are involved in the genesis and progression of human cancers. Aberrant methylation of CpG islands within promoter regions is associated with transcriptional inactivation of various tumour suppressor genes. O 6-methyguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a DNA repair gene that removes mutagenic and cytot...

Because existing surgical and management methods can consistently cure only early-stage ovarian cancer, novel strategies for early detection are required. Silencing of tumor suppressor genes such as p16INK4a, VHL, and hMLH1 have established promoter hypermethylation as a common mechanism for tumor suppressor inactivation in human cancer and as a promising target for molecular detection in bodil...

PURPOSE AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Recent evidence shows that the presence of promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes has been demonstrated in the serum DNA of patients with various cancers such as lung, liver, and head and neck cancer. We have examined promoter hypermethylation of the p16 gene in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) using methylation-specific PCR to detect tumor D...

BACKGROUND Hypermethylation of CpG islands in tumor suppressor gene plays an important role in carcinogenesis. Many studies have demonstrated that hypermethylation in promoter region of RARβ gene could be found with high prevalence in tumor tissue and autologous controls such as corresponding non-tumor lung tissue, sputum and plasma of the NSCLC patients. But with the small number subjects incl...

Inactivation of tumor suppressor gene p16 may play an important role in the progression from Barrett's esophagus (BE) to esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA). Hypermethylation of p16 gene promoter is an important mechanism inactivating p16. However, the mechanisms of p16 hypermethylation in EA are not known. Therefore, we examined whether acid increases methylation of p16 gene promoter and whether NA...

Terminal differentiation of villous cytotrophoblasts (CT) ends in formation of the multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast representing the fetal-maternal interface. Aberrations during this cell-fusion process are associated with Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR), Preeclampsia (PE) and High Elevated Liver and Low Platelets (HELLP) Syndrome. Syncytin-1, the envelope gene of the human Endogenous ...

Previously we found that levels of LRRC49 (leucine rich repeat containing 49; FLJ20156) transcripts were elevated in ER-positive breast tumors compared with ER-negative breast tumors. The LRRC49 gene is located on chromosome 15q23 in close proximity to the THAP10 (THAP domain containing 10) gene. These two genes have a bidirectional organization being arranged head-to-head on opposite strands, ...

BACKGROUND Epigenetic regulation such as aberrant hypermethylation of CpG islands in promoter plays a key role in tumorigenesis. 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-CdR) which is a potent inhibitor of DNA methylation can reverse the abnormal hypermethylation of the silenced tumor suppressor genes (TSGs). It has been reported that hepatocyte cell adhesion molecule (hepaCAM) acts as a tumor suppressor ...

The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency of CTNNA1 hypermethylation in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients in an attempt to improve molecular prognostic model. CTNNA1 promoter methylation levels in 319 newly diagnosed AML patients were detected using quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (qMS-PCR). Furthermore, hematological characteristics, cytogenetic abnorma...