title: Mutational, epigenetic and expressional analyses of caveolin-1 gene in breast cancers.
abstract: Caveolin-1, an integral membrane protein of caveolae found in many cell types, has been suggested as a candidate tumor suppressor. However, the mechanism underlying caveolin-1 decreased expression is not fully understood. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of aberrant promoter methylation in the regulation of caveolin-1 gene in breast cancer correlated with clinical findings. We used methylation specific PCR, direct sequencing and immunohistochemistry stain methods to explore the role of caveolin-1 gene in the development of breast cancer. We demonstrated that 14 of 55 cases (25.5%) and 4 of 55 cases (7.3%) had methylated CpG-island on caveolin-1 promoter in cancerous and non-cancerous cells, respectively. The frequency of aberrant promoter methylation of breast cancer tissues was significant higher than non-cancerous tissues (p<0.05). There were four types of methylation pattern of caveolin-1 gene in the breast cancer tissues. No mutation but one polymorphism GAC right curved arrow GAT at codon 82 was found in the whole exonic sequences of caveolin-1 gene. The methylation status of caveolin-1 gene had no clear relationship with age, cell grade, stage of tumor, and status of estrogen receptor, p53 and c-erbB2 in the breast cancer tissues. However, in breast tissue with aberrant promoter methylation of caveolin-1 gene, the presence of progesterone receptor showed borderline statistic difference compared to unmethylated promoter (p=0.11). Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that expression of caveolin-1 gene correlated with aberrant promoter methylation status in sporadic breast cancer tissues. Our findings suggest that aberrant promoter methylation of caveolin-1 gene is associated with inactivation of expression. This process occurs in the precancerous stage and may play an important role in the development of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, China Medical University, 2 Yuh-Der Road, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shou-Tung
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Syh-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Kun-Tu
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: Shou-Jen
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Wen-Ling
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Yen-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Jan-Gowth
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D051242:Caveolin 1; D022461:Caveolins / Q000235:genetics*; D018899:CpG Islands / Q000235:genetics; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C495540:CAV1 protein, human; D051242:Caveolin 1; D022461:Caveolins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins