Combined Detection of Plasma ZIC1, HOXD10 and RUNX3 Methylation is a Promising Strategy for Early Detection of Gastric Cancer and Precancerous Lesions.

We try to explore the value of aberrant DNA methylation of several cancer-related genes in plasma as non-invasive biomarkers for gastric cancer (GC) and precancerous lesions. By using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction assay we determined the methylation status of three selected genes , and in blood samples from patients with GC and precancerous lesions. We discovered that the methylation rate of , and increased significantly in the progression of gastric carcinogenesis. Methylation of was associated with positive serum CA19-9, while that of was related to H. pylori status, serum CA19-9 and CEA levels and tumor invasion depth. The Odds ratios (ORs) of , and methylation for predicting GC were 4.285 (95%CI: 2.435-7.542), 3.133 (95%CI: 1.700-5.775) and 2.674 (95%CI: 1.441-4.960), while for predicting "gastric cancer and intraepithelial neoplasia" (GnI), the ORs were 12.011 (95%CI: 0.050-28.564), 9.174 (95%CI: 3.220-26.135) and 12.794 (95%CI: 4.115-39.778), respectively. In terms of combined detection of these three genes, the sensitivity was 91.6% for GC and 89.8% for GnI, with the highest Youden index in both GC and GnI determination. Conclusively, combined detection of , and promoter hypermethylation might be a promising strategy for early detection of GC and precancerous lesions.