Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Med Sci Monit. 2010 Sep;16(9):CR410-5.
The present study was performed to estimate the frequency of methylated p16INK4A in the sera of patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related chronic active hepatitis (CAH), liver cirrhosis (LC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to evaluate the role of p16INK4A as a tumor marker of HCC.
MATERIAL/METHODS: The sera of 17 CAH, 20 LC, and 25 HCC patients were examined in this study. The methylation status of p16INK4A was evaluated by methylation-specific PCR of the serum samples.
Methylated p16INK4A was detected in 47.1% (8/17) of the CAH patients, 5% (4/20) of the LC patients, and in 92% (23/25) of the HCC patients. HBV markers were detected in (4/25) of HCC patients; all had methylated p16INK4A. No association was demonstrated between p16INK4A methylation and serum AFP level in the HCC group.
The results of this study indicate that aberrant DNA methylation contributes to hepatocarcinogenesis and it may be an early event during hepatocarcinogenesis. As the status of p16INK4A methylation was not associated with serum AFP level, it may have a complementary role with AFP as a tumor marker of HCC.
本研究旨在评估丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）相关慢性活动性肝炎（CAH）、肝硬化（LC）和肝细胞癌（HCC）患者血清中甲基化 p16INK4A 的频率，并评估 p16INK4A 作为 HCC 肿瘤标志物的作用。
材料/方法：本研究检测了 17 例 CAH、20 例 LC 和 25 例 HCC 患者的血清。通过血清样本的甲基化特异性 PCR 评估 p16INK4A 的甲基化状态。
CAH 患者中 47.1%（8/17）、LC 患者中 5%（4/20）和 HCC 患者中 92%（23/25）检测到甲基化 p16INK4A。在 HCC 患者中（4/25）检测到 HBV 标志物；所有患者均有甲基化 p16INK4A。在 HCC 组中，p16INK4A 甲基化与血清 AFP 水平之间没有关联。
本研究结果表明，异常的 DNA 甲基化导致肝癌的发生，可能是肝癌发生的早期事件。由于 p16INK4A 甲基化状态与血清 AFP 水平无关，因此它可能作为 AFP 的补充标志物，作为 HCC 的肿瘤标志物。
