promoter hypermethylation in sporadic epithelial ovarian carcinoma: Association with low expression of BRCA1, improved survival and co-expression of DNA methyltransferases.

The breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 () inactivation in sporadic epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) is common and low BRCA1 expression is associated with promoter hypermethylation. The clinical validation of methylation as a prognostic marker in EOC remains unresolved. The aim of the present study was to determine the aberrant promoter methylation of in benign and malignant ovarian tumor tissues, to establish the association with the clinicopathological significance and the prognostic value. Additionally, the contribution of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) expression to promoter hypermethylation was determined. The rate of methylation was observed to be 35.2% (50/142) in the EOCs; however, no methylation (0/32) was observed in the benign tumors. methylation was significantly associated with the downregulation of expression (P<0.001) and the frequency of methylation was greater in the carcinomas of patients whose tumor was bilateral than that of patients with a unilateral carcinoma (P=0.015). methylation was significantly associated with the preoperative serum carbohydrate antigen-125 level (P=0.013), improved overall survival (P=0.005) and disease-free survival (P=0.007). In addition, a significant correlation was observed between the co-expression of DNMTs and the methylation status of . Thus, the present study provided support for promoter hypermethylation as a prognostic marker for survival in sporadic EOC, and co-expression of DNMTs was observed to contribute to promoter hypermethylation.