Endogastric capsule for E-cadherin gene (CDH1) promoter hypermethylation assessment in DNA from gastric juice of diffuse gastric cancer patients.
BACKGROUND
We investigated whether an endogastric capsule (EC) may be a valuable tool for collecting DNA from exfoliated cells from the gastric mucosa and for carrying out an analysis of promoter methylation status of the E-cadherin (CDH1) gene in poorly differentiated, diffuse gastric cancer (DGC).


METHODS
Consecutive patients with a confirmed diagnosis of poorly differentiated DGC underwent collection of gastric juice by EC. Subjects without cancer and premalignant lesions were also accrued as controls. The samples of gastric juice were processed for DNA isolation and amplification. Then they were used for analysis of CDH1 promoter hypermethylation.


RESULTS
The procedure successfully allowed the analysis of CDH1 promoter hypermethylation in 20 patients and 14 controls. This pilot study showed feasibility of the procedure and a significantly different CDH1 promoter hypermethylation status between DGC patients and controls was detected.


CONCLUSIONS
The EC may represent an innovative and noninvasive tool for the analysis of a specific epigenetic change in DGC patients. Our findings deserve additional studies as this method may represent a cost-effective tool for early detection of sporadic as well as hereditary DGC in CDH1 germline mutations carriers.
Muretto
P
P
Institute of Histopathology, Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedale San Salvatore, Pesaro, Italy. p.muretto@ospedalesansalvatore.it
Ruzzo
A
A
Pizzagalli
F
F
Graziano
F
F
Maltese
P
P
Zingaretti
C
C
Berselli
E
E
Donnarumma
N
N
Magnani
M
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D015703:Antigens, CD; D001483:Base Sequence; D015820:Cadherins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002214:Capsules; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005750:Gastric Juice / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology*; D018095:Germ-Line Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D008745:Methylation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
D015703:Antigens, CD; C513384:CDH1 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D002214:Capsules; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm