The study of methylation and single nucleotide polymorphisms of cancer-related genes in patients with early-stage ulcerative colitis.

To investigate the methylation status and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of cancer-associated genes in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and explore the potential mechanism for high cancer risk of UC. A total of 103 patients were enrolled in our study, which included 30 healthy subjects, 41 patients with early-stage UC, and 32 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methylation status of cyclooxygenase 2 () and human RUNT-related transcription factor 3 () genes in colonic mucosa from 3 groups of subjects were detected by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The SNPs rs1800629 and rs1143627 were genotyped by PCR and direct sequencing. The methylation rate of gene within CRC group was 35.7%, which was significantly higher than the other two groups (Healthy control 5.9%, UC 15.4%,  = .040). There was no significant difference in the methylation rate of between early-stage UC group and healthy control group ( = .633). The methylation rate of gene, the genotypes (GG, AG) and alleles (A, G) of rs1800629, and the genotypes (CC,CT,TT) and alleles (C,T) of rs1143627 were not statistically different among three groups. In the early stage of UC, the methylation rate of cancer-related genes and and SNPs rs1800629 and rs1143627 were not significantly different compared with healthy subjects. The methylation rate of in CRC increased, while the methylation rate of and SNPs rs1800629 and rs1143627 did not change significantly compared with the other two groups.