Department of Basic Oncology, Oncology Institute, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
DNA Cell Biol. 2011 Jan;30(1):17-24. doi: 10.1089/dna.2010.1090. Epub 2010 Sep 22.
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a common cancer, and its prognosis has not changed during the last decades. Detection of the disease at an early stage is crucial for successful treatment, as early diagnosis can significantly increase the survival rate. Methylation of tumor suppressor genes is an early event in cancer responsible for incorrect gene silencing. Since methylation changes are reversible, they also provide a promising target for therapy. So far, only individual genes have been analyzed for aberrant methylation in HNC. In this study, we analyzed the methylation status of 24 tumor suppressor genes simultaneously by methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification in matched tumor and normal tissue samples from patients with HNC. CHFR, RARβ, DAPK1, and RASFF1 genes were the most frequently methylated genes in tumor tissue. Eight genes were not methylated in any sample. The methylation frequencies for individual genes ranged from 0% to 19%. Our results indicate that methylation of tumor suppressor genes is not high as previously reported by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction and is confined to a smaller but significant fraction of the tumors. Whether this group represents a unique entity in the disease spectrum warrants further studies.
头颈部癌症(HNC)是一种常见的癌症,在过去几十年中其预后并未改变。早期发现疾病对于成功治疗至关重要,因为早期诊断可以显著提高生存率。肿瘤抑制基因的甲基化是癌症中导致基因错误沉默的早期事件。由于甲基化变化是可逆的,因此它们也为治疗提供了有前途的靶点。到目前为止,仅对 HNC 中异常甲基化的个别基因进行了分析。在这项研究中,我们通过甲基化特异性多重连接依赖性探针扩增分析了来自 HNC 患者匹配的肿瘤和正常组织样本中 24 个肿瘤抑制基因的甲基化状态。CHFR、RARβ、DAPK1 和 RASFF1 基因是肿瘤组织中最常发生甲基化的基因。有 8 个基因在任何样本中均未甲基化。个别基因的甲基化频率从 0%到 19%不等。我们的结果表明,肿瘤抑制基因的甲基化水平不如以前通过甲基化特异性聚合酶链反应报道的那样高,并且仅限于肿瘤的一小部分但意义重大的部分。这一组是否代表疾病谱中的一个独特实体,需要进一步研究。