Methylation in Peripheral Blood Cells as a Biomarker for Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND

Several case-control studies have suggested that global and loci-specific deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of DNA might be potential biomarkers of cancer diagnosis and prognosis. In this study, for the first time, we intended to assess the diagnostic power of the methylation level of tumor suppressor candidate 3 () gene promoter in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In the current study, we quantitatively assessed the promoter methylation level of in PBMCs of 70 CRC cases and 75 non-cancerous subjects via methylation quantification of endonuclease-resistant DNA (MethyQESD) method.

RESULTS

The methylation level of the was meaningfully higher in CRC cases than in non-CRC subjects (43.55 ± 21.80% vs. 16.07 ± 13.63%, respectively; < 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of this gene for the detection of CRC were 88.6% and 76.0%, respectively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve examination discovered an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.880, representing a very high accuracy of the methylation marker in distinguishing CRC subjects from healthy individuals. However, there was no substantial diversity in methylation level between various CRC stages (: 0.088).

CONCLUSION

For CRC screening, PBMCs are a reliable source for DNA methylation analysis and promoter methylation can be utilized as a hopeful biomarker for early and non-invasive diagnosis of CRC.