Identification of novel methylation markers in hepatocellular carcinoma using a methylation array

• Published in: Journal of Korean medical science Vol. 25; no. 8; pp. 1152 - 1159
• Main Authors: Shin, So Hyun, Kim, Baek-hui, Jang, Ja-June, Suh, Kyung Suk, Kang, Gyeong Hoon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 01.08.2010; 대한의학회
• Subjects: Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic - therapeutic use; Azacitidine - analogs & derivatives; Azacitidine - therapeutic use; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - genetics; Cell Line, Tumor; CpG Islands; DNA Methylation; Gene Expression Profiling; GPI-Linked Proteins - genetics; Homeodomain Proteins - genetics; Humans; Interferon Regulatory Factors - genetics; Liver Neoplasms - drug therapy; Liver Neoplasms - genetics; Neuropeptide Y - genetics; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Original; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Member 10c; Tumor Necrosis Factor Decoy Receptors - genetics; 의학일반; CpG Islands; DNA Methylation; Bead Array; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
• ISSN: 1011-8934; 1598-6357
• DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2010.25.8.1152

Promoter CpG island hypermethylation has become recognized as an important mechanism for inactivating tumor suppressor genes or tumor-related genes in human cancers of various tissues. Gene inactivation in association with promoter CpG island hypermethylation has been reported to be four times more frequent than genetic changes in human colorectal cancers. Hepatocellular carcinoma is also one of the human cancer types in which aberrant promoter CpG island hypermethylation is frequently found. However, the number of genes identified to date as hypermethylated for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is fewer than that for colorectal cancer or gastric cancer, which can be attributed to fewer attempts to perform genome-wide methylation profiling for HCC. In the present study, we used bead-array technology and coupled methylation-specific PCR to identify new genes showing cancer-specific methylation in HCC. Twenty-four new genes have been identified as hypermethylated at their promoter CpG island loci in a cancer-specific manner. Of these, TNFRSF10C, HOXA9, NPY, and IRF5 were frequently hypermethylated in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue samples and their methylation was found to be closely associated with inactivation of gene expression. Further study will be required to elucidate the clinicopathological implications of these newly found DNA methylation markers in hepatocellular carcinoma.