Cigarette smoking is the most common cause of lung cancer. The greatest risk of lung cancer is among those who started smoking early in life and continued throughout their lives. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for the susceptibility to lung cancer in the young smoker are not clear. Recently, several groups have reported that the hypermethylation of CpG islands is associated with ...

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...

BACKGROUND Emerging evidence indicates that RUNX3 is a candidate tumor suppressor in several types of human tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the correlation between RUNX3 hypermethylation and clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC remains unclear. Here, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate the effects of RUNX3 hypermet...

BACKGROUND CDH1 is a protein encoded by the CDH1 gene in humans. Loss of CDH1 function contributes to cancer progression by increasing proliferation, invasion, and/or metastasis. However, the association and clinicopathological significance between CDH1 hypermethylation and gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. In this study, we systematically reviewed the studies of CDH1 hypermethylation and GC...

Mutation of the breast cancer-associated gene 1 (BRCA1) plays an important role in familial breast cancer. Although hypermethylation of the BRCA1 promoter has been observed in sporadic breast cancer, its exact role in breast cancer initiation and association with breast cancer risk is unknown. The frequency of BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation was tested in (a) 14 primary breast cancer biopsies a...

PURPOSE Hypermethylation of the tumor suppressor genes is frequently observed in the tumor development and progression. However, the correlation between the hypermethylation of the tumor suppressor genes, CDH1 and the axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis is not fully elucidated. To verify the role of the CDH1 promoter hypermethylation in the ALN metastasis and prognosis, we compared the methyla...

Emerging evidence indicates that FHIT is a candidate tumor suppressor in many types of tumors including non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). However, the prognostic value and correlation between FHIT hypermethylation and clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC remains unclear. In this report, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of FHIT hypermethylation on the incidence o...

Abnormality of the p16 expression is involved in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and hypermethylation of p16 gene is known as a major p16 inactivation mechanism. Cirrhotic nodule (CN) is now regarded as a preneoplastic lesion that is frequently associated with microscopic foci of HCC through dysplastic nodules (DNs). This observation clearly supports a multistep hepatocarcin...

Cancer cells are characterized by a generalized disruption of the DNA methylation pattern involving an overall decrease in the level of 5-methylcytosine together with regional hypermethylation of particular CpG islands. The extent of both DNA hypomethylation and hypermethylation in the tumor cell is likely to reflect distinctive biological and clinical features, although no studies have address...

BACKGROUND Arabidopsis mutations causing genome-wide hypomethylation are viable but display a number of specific developmental abnormalities, including some that resemble known floral homeotic mutations. We previously showed that one of the developmental abnormalities present in an antisense-METHYLTRANSFERASEI (METI) transgenic line resulted from ectopic hypermethylation of the SUPERMAN gene. ...