Methylation screening of the TGFBI promoter in human lung and prostate cancer by methylation-specific PCR.
BACKGROUND
Hypermethylation of the TGFBI promoter has been shown to correlate with decreased expression of this gene in human tumor cell lines. In this study, we optimized a methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) method and investigated the methylation status of the TGFBI promoter in human lung and prostate cancer specimens.


METHODS
Methylation-specific primers were designed based on the methylation profiles of the TGFBI promoter in human tumor cell lines, and MSP conditions were optimized for accurate and efficient amplification. Genomic DNA was isolated from lung tumors and prostatectomy tissues of prostate cancer patients, bisulfite-converted, and analyzed by MSP.


RESULTS
Among 50 lung cancer samples, 44.0% (22/50) harbored methylated CpG sites in the TGFBI promoter. An analysis correlating gene methylation status with clinicopathological cancer features revealed that dense methylation of the TGFBI promoter was associated with a metastatic phenotype, with 42.9% (6/14) of metastatic lung cancer samples demonstrating dense methylation vs. only 5.6% (2/36) of primary lung cancer samples (p < 0.05). Similar to these lung cancer results, 82.0% (41/50) of prostate cancer samples harbored methylated CpG sites in the TGFBI promoter, and dense methylation of the promoter was present in 38.9% (7/18) of prostate cancer samples with the feature of locoregional invasiveness vs. only 19.4% (6/31) of prostate cancer samples without locoregional invasiveness (p < 0.05). Furthermore, promoter hypermethylation correlated with highly reduced expression of the TGFBI gene in human lung and prostate tumor cell lines.


CONCLUSIONS
We successfully optimized a MSP method for the precise and efficient screening of TGFBI promoter methylation status. Dense methylation of the TGFBI promoter correlated with the extent of TGFBI gene silencing in tumor cell lines and was related to invasiveness of prostate tumors and metastatic status of lung cancer tumors. Thus, TGFBI promoter methylation can be used as a potential prognostic marker for invasiveness and metastasis in prostate and lung cancer patients, respectively.
Center for Radiological Research, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. Jinesh.Shah@nyumc.org
Jinesh N
JN
Shah
Genze
G
Shao
Tom K
TK
Hei
Yongliang
Y
Zhao
D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; C508960:TGFB1 protein, human; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1