p16(INK4a) is a tumor suppressor gene, frequently hypermethylated in breast cancer; this epigenetic silencing of p16(INK4a) occurs early in carcinogenesis. The risk factors and functional consequences of p16(INK4a) methylation are unknown. Alcohol consumption, a breast cancer risk factor, impedes folate metabolism and may thereby alter gene methylation since folate plays a pivotal role in DNA m...

PURPOSE In an effort to additionally determine the global patterns of CpG island hypermethylation in sporadic breast cancer, we searched for aberrant promoter methylation at 10 gene loci in 54 primary breast cancer and 10 breast benign lesions. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Genomic DNA sodium bisulfate converted from benign and malignant tissues was used as template in methyl-specific PCR for BRCA1, p1...

BACKGROUND At present, no study has compared the correlation between SULF2, WRN promoter methylation and clinicopathological parameters of patients with gastric cancer and the sensitivity to irinotecan (CPT-11). METHODS We collected 102 fresh tumor tissues from pathologically diagnosed gastric carcinoma patients. Methylation specific PCR was used to detect the promoter methylation of SULF2 an...

We have investigated the role of DNA methylation in the regulation of the expression of the human tissue transglutaminase gene. Studies on the methylation of the transglutaminase promoter in normal and neoplastic human cells demonstrated that the promoter is methylated in vivo and hypomethylation of the promoter is correlated with constitutive gene expression. Demethylation of the promoter in v...

Promoter methylation is a gene- and cancer type-specific epigenetic event that plays an important role in tumour development. As endometrioid (endometrioid endometrial carcinoma, EEC) and serous endometrial cancers (uterine papillary serous carcinoma, UPSC) exhibit different clinical, histological and molecular genetic characteristics, we hypothesized that these differences may be reflected in ...

DNA repair genes that have been inactivated by promoter methylation offer potential therapeutic targets either by targeting the specific repair deficiency, or by synthetic lethal approaches. This study evaluated promoter methylation status for eight selected DNA repair genes (ATM, BRCA1, ERCC1, MGMT, MLH1, NEIL1, RAD23B and XPC) in 56 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumours and 11 lung cell ...

Genomes of invertebrates and vertebrates exhibit highly divergent patterns of DNA methylation. Invertebrate genomes tend to be sparsely methylated, and DNA methylation is mostly targeted to a subset of transcription units (gene bodies). In a drastic contrast, vertebrate genomes are generally globally and heavily methylated, punctuated by the limited local hypo-methylation of putative regulatory...

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...

OBJECTIVE Promoter methylation, which can be regulated by MTHFR activity, is associated with silencing of genes. In this study we evaluated the methylation status (type) of the BRCA2 promoter in ovarian cancer patients carrying different genotypes of the MTHFR gene (A or C polymorphisms at position 1298). METHODS The methylation type of the BRCA2 promoter was evaluated using bisulfate-modifie...

BACKGROUND LZTS2 (leucine zipper tumor suppressor 2), a candidate tumor suppressor gene, suppresses cell growth and plays a vital role in the carcinogenesis and development of tumors. No studies to date have described methylation of the LZTS2 promoter in human cancers, including LSCC (laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma). Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the relationship between LZ...