Island Methylation (island + methylation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Kinds of Island Methylation

  • cpg island methylation


  • Selected Abstracts


    Differential involvement of the hypermethylator phenotype in hereditary and sporadic colorectal cancers with high-frequency microsatellite instability

    GENES, CHROMOSOMES AND CANCER, Issue 3 2002
    Hiroyuki Yamamoto
    High-frequency microsatellite instability (MSI-H) due to defective DNA mismatch repair occurs in the majority of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancers (HNPCCs) and in a subset of sporadic malignant tumors. Clinicopathologic and genotypic features of MSI-H colorectal tumors in HNPCC patients and those in sporadic cases are very similar but not identical. Correlation between the MSI phenotype and aberrant DNA methylation has been highlighted recently. A strong association between MSI and CpG island methylation has been well characterized in sporadic colorectal cancers with MSI-H but not in those of hereditary origin. To address the issue, we analyzed hereditary and sporadic colorectal cancers for aberrant DNA methylation of target genes using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. DNA methylation of the MLH1, CDKN2A, MGMT, THBS1, RARB, APC, and p14ARF genes was found in 0%, 23%, 10%, 3%, 73%, 53%, and 33% of 30 MSI-H cancers in HNPCC patients and in 80%, 55%, 23%, 23%, 58%, 35%, and 50% of 40 sporadic colorectal cancers with MSI-H, respectively. Cases showing methylation at three or more loci of six genes other than MLH1 were defined as CpG island methylator phenotype,positive (CIMP+), and 23% of HNPCC tumors and 53% of sporadic cancers with MSI-H were CIMP+ (P = 0.018). Differences in the extent of CpG island methylation, coupled with the differential involvement of several genes by methylation, in HNPCC tumors and sporadic MSI-H colorectal cancers may be associated with diverging developmental pathways in hereditary and sporadic cancers despite similar MSI-H phenotypes. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    Frequent inactivation of SPARC by promoter hypermethylation in colon cancers

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 3 2007
    Eungi Yang
    Abstract Epigenetic modification of gene expression plays an important role in the development of human cancers. The inactivation of SPARC through CpG island methylation was studied in colon cancers using oligonucleotide microarray analysis and methylation specific PCR (MSP). Gene expression of 7 colon cancer cell lines was evaluated before and after treatment with the demethylating agent 5-aza-2,-deoxycytidine (5Aza-dC) by oligonucleotide microarray analysis. Expression of SPARC was further examined in colon cancer cell lines and primary colorectal cancers, and the methylation status of the SPARC promoter was determined by MSP. SPARC expression was undetectable in 5 of 7 (71%) colorectal cancer cell lines. Induction of SPARC was demonstrated after treatment with the demethylating agent 5Aza-dC in 5 of the 7 cell lines. We examined the methylation status of the CpG island of SPARC in 7 colon cancer cell lines and in 20 test set of colon cancer tissues. MSP demonstrated hypermethylation of the CpG island of SPARC in 6 of 7 cell lines and in all 20 primary colon cancers, when compared with only 3 of 20 normal colon mucosa. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that SPARC expression was downregulated or absent in 17 of 20 colon cancers. A survival analysis of 292 validation set of colorectal carcinoma patients revealed a poorer prognosis for patients lacking SPARC expression than for patients with normal SPARC expression (56.79% vs. 75.83% 5-year survival rate, p = 0.0014). The results indicate that epigenetic gene silencing of SPARC is frequent in colon cancers, and that inactivation of SPARC is related to rapid progression of colon cancers. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    Epigenetic inactivation of secreted Frizzled-related proteins in acute myeloid leukaemia

    BRITISH JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2008
    E. Jost
    Summary The Wnt signalling pathway has a key function in stem cell maintenance and differentiation of haematopoietic progenitors. Secreted Frizzled-related protein genes (SFRPs), functioning as Wnt signalling antagonists, have been found to be downregulated by promoter hypermethylation in many tumours. To analyse epigenetic dysregulation of SFRPs in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), we examined the promoter methylation status of SFRP1, - 2, - 4 and - 5 in AML cell lines by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP). Aberrant CpG island methylation was found for all four SFRP genes. By real-time reverse transcription-PCR, corresponding transcriptional silencing for SFRP1 and - 2 was demonstrated and treatment of cell lines with 5-aza -2,-deoxycytidine resulted in re-expression. The methylation status of the SFRP genes was analysed in 100 specimens obtained from AML patients at diagnosis. The frequencies of aberrant methylation among the patient samples were 29% for SFRP1, 19% for SFRP2, 0% for SFRP4 and 9% for SFRP5. For SFRP2, a correlation between promoter hypermethylation and transcriptional downregulation was found in primary AML samples. Among AML cases with a favourable karyotype, hypermethylation of SFRP genes was restricted to patients with core binding factor (CBF) leukaemia, and aberrant methylation of the SFRP2 promoter was an adverse risk factor for survival in CBF leukaemia. [source]


    Hypermethylation in promoter region of E-cadherin gene is associated with tumor dedifferention and myometrial invasion in endometrial carcinoma

    CANCER, Issue 4 2003
    Ph.D., Tsuyoshi Saito M.D.
    Abstract BACKGROUND Loss of E-cadherin expression is associated with aberrant 5, CpG island methylation in various tumors. METHODS The authors analyzed the methylation status and immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin in 142 endometrial tissues, consisting of 21 normal endometria, 17 endometrial hyperplasias, and 104 endometrial carcinomas. RESULTS All normal endometria and endometrial hyperplasias showed positive staining of E-cadherin, and methylation of the E-cadherin gene was not detected in any samples. In endometrial carcinoma, the positive ratio of methylation was higher and was associated with tumor dedifferention and myometrial invasion. In G1 endometrial adenocarcinomas, 66.7% showed positive staining and 33.3% showed heterogeneous staining. Methylation of the E-cadherin gene was detected in 15.6%. In G2 tumors, 19.0% showed positive staining, 69.0% showed heterogeneous staining and 11.9% showed negative staining. Methylation of the E-cadherin gene was found in 50.0%. In G3 tumors, 9.1% showed positive staining, 54.5% showed heterogeneous staining and 36.3% showed negative staining. Methylation of the E-cadherin gene was found in 81.8% of the tumors. Of the samples with no-myometrial invasion, 23.1% had methylation. In those with invasion in less than half of the myometrium, 28.6% did and in those with invasion of half or more of the myometrium, 55.6% had methylation. Of samples that did not have lymph node metastasis, 33.7% had methylation, whereas of samples that had lymph node metastasis, 60.0% had methylation. CONCLUSIONS This is the first report to analyze methylation of the E-cadherin gene promoter of endometrial carcinoma and the evidence suggests that methylation of the E-cadherin gene occurs in association with the acquisition of invasive capacity. Cancer 2003;97:1002,9. © 2003 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11157 [source]