E-cadherin promoter methylation can regulate its expression in invasive ductal breast cancer tissue in Chinese woman.
Promoter methylation is an important mechanism of regulating E-cadherin expression. Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) assay was done to evaluate the promoter methylation status of E-cadherin gene in primary tumor samples from 23 cases of Chinese women with invasive ductal breast cancers. Western blotting assay was employed for E-cadherin and beta-actin expressions. Positive MSP results occurred in 26.1% (6/23) of primary tumor samples and none of four normal skin samples. These molecular events tended to occur in breast cancers associated with poor prognosis. Whereas the mean ratio of CDH1/beta-actin for six MSP-positive cases was 0.0290 +/- 0.0355, the mean ratio for 17 MSP-negative cases was 0.4726 +/- 0.5049 (P = 0.046). In conclusion, aberrant E-cadherin methylation preferentially occurs in invasive ductal breast cancer associated with poor prognosis and is one of the mechanisms of E-cadherin expression silence in breast cancers from Chinese women.
Department of Surgery, University of Hong Kong Medical Center, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
Xi-Chun
XC
Hu
Wings T Y
WT
Loo
Louis W C
LW
Chow
D000199:Actins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008745:Methylation; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D011379:Prognosis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D000199:Actins; D015820:Cadherins; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins