Ferracin M, Gafà R, Miotto E, Veronese A, Pultrone C, Sabbioni S, Lanza G, Negrini M
Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Diagnostica, Università di Ferrara, via Luigi Borsari 46, 44100 Ferrara, Italy.
J Pathol. 2008 Apr;214(5):594-602. doi: 10.1002/path.2318.
The CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) in colorectal tumours can be recognized by an increased frequency of aberrant methylation in a specific set of genomic loci. Because of the strong association of CIMP with high microsatellite instability (MSI-H), the identification of CIMP+ tumours within microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancers may not be straightforward. To overcome this potential limitation, we have built an improved seven-locus set of methylation markers that includes CACNA1G, IGF2, RUNX3, HTR6, RIZ1, MINT31, and MAP1B. This new set of CIMP markers revealed a bimodal distribution of methylation frequencies in a group of 95 MSS colorectal cancers, which allowed a clearer separation between CIMP classes. Correlation of MSS CIMP+ tumours with bio-pathological traits revealed significant associations with location to the proximal colon, mucinous histology, BRAF mutation, and chromosomal stability. A potential trend towards an adverse prognosis of CIMP+ cases was associated with the high frequency of BRAF mutations present within this cohort of tumours. Microarray analysis revealed that CIMP+ tumours are characterized by a unique expression profile, a result that confirms that CIMP+ tumours represent a truly distinct molecular class within MSS colorectal cancers.
结直肠癌中的CpG岛甲基化表型(CIMP)可通过一组特定基因组位点异常甲基化频率的增加来识别。由于CIMP与高微卫星不稳定性(MSI-H)密切相关,在微卫星稳定(MSS)结直肠癌中识别CIMP+肿瘤可能并非易事。为克服这一潜在限制,我们构建了一组改进的包含7个位点的甲基化标记物,包括CACNA1G、IGF2、RUNX3、HTR6、RIZ1、MINT31和MAP1B。这组新的CIMP标记物在95例MSS结直肠癌中显示出甲基化频率的双峰分布,这使得CIMP类别之间的区分更加清晰。MSS CIMP+肿瘤与生物病理特征的相关性显示,其与近端结肠位置、黏液组织学、BRAF突变和染色体稳定性存在显著关联。CIMP+病例预后不良的潜在趋势与该组肿瘤中BRAF突变的高频率有关。微阵列分析显示,CIMP+肿瘤具有独特的表达谱,这一结果证实CIMP+肿瘤在MSS结直肠癌中代表一个真正独特的分子类别。