Association between promoter hypermethylation of the DACT2 gene and tumor stages in breast cancer.

PURPOSE:Aberrant methylation of CpG islands in the promoter is a hallmark of cancer, leading to transcriptional silencing of tumor suppressor genes. The aim of this work was to evaluate the promoter methylation status of the DACT2 gene in breast cancer (BC) tissue and to analyze its possible effect on tumor type or grade. METHODS:CpG island from the DACT2 promoter in region -240 to -14 from transcriptional start site (TSS) were obtained. Through the use of sodium bisulfite DNA conversion analysis, followed by detection with MSP (methylation specific PCR), we analyzed 79 BC and 15 adjacent healthy samples. RESULTS:T he c ases a nalyzed w ere i n s tage I ( 2.5%), I I (38%), or III (59.5%). The most frequent tumor type was invasive ductal carcinoma (71.4%). Methylation analysis comparing tumor tissues with adjacent non-cancerous tissues showed statistical significance. Methylation was observed in 32.9% (26/79) of the samples; no methylation was found in adjacent healthy tissue. DACT2 methylation was associated with tumor stage I-II (p=0.03) and stage III (p=0.004). CONCLUSION:An association was found of DACT2 promoter methylation with advanced tumor stages. This gene has been suggested as a potential biomarker, however, more investigation is required to validate this function.

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