STUDY OF MIR-200C AND MIR-9 METHYLATION ON PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER

• Published in: Journal of Experimental and Molecular Biology Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 1
• Main Authors: Florescu, Anca, Cojocaru, Dumitru, FAZIO, V M, Parrella, Paola
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iasi Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Breast cancer; DNA methylation; Polymerase chain reaction
• ISSN: 2601-6974; 2601-6974

Breast cancer is one of the most common causes of death among women worldwide. DNA methylation isessential for normal development and it is associated with a number of key processes including genomic imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation, carcinogenesis. We determined promoter methylation status of miR-9 and miR-200c on DNA obtained from 30 breast cancer cases (mean age of 57±14). DNA was extracted from fresh frozen specimens, after ensuring that tumour samples contained more than 70% cancer cell, treated with sodium bisulphite and amplified by using Methylation Specific PCR (MSP). As control four normal breast tissue from healthy women were also analyzed.Methylation at the miR-9 promoter region was detected in 20 out of 31 cases (64%) and none of the normal breast tissues (P=0.026, X-square. Whereas, miR-200c promoter region showed methylation in 25 out of 31 tumours (80%) and all four normal tissues (P=NS C- square test). A trend towards an association was seen between miR-9 methylation status and patient's age, and Ki67 expression (Mann Whitney U Test). Our results suggest a possible role of miR9 methylation and breast cancer carcinogenesis. We are currently validating these results on an extended data sample of 72 breast cancer cases. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]