title: Hypermethylation of p16 and DAPK promoter gene regions in patients with non-invasive urinary bladder cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the study was to examine the frequency of methylation status in promoter regions of p16 and DAPK genes in patients with non-invasive bladder cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-two patients (92.9% men, 73.8% smokers, 71.4% T1G1, 19.1% T1G2, 9.5% T1G3) and 36 healthy controls were studied. Isolation of genomic DNA from blood serum and methylation-specific PCR (MSP) were applied. Methylation status - methylated and unmethylated promoter regions of p16 and DAPK genes were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventeen out of 42 patients (40.5%) had the methylated p16 gene, while methylation of the DAPK gene was seen in 27 of 42 cases (64.3%). In 12 patients (28.6%) both analysed genes were methylated. A statistically significant (p = 0.046) higher frequency of DAPK gene methylation (71.4%) was observed in patients with lower grade (G1) bladder cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Detection of the aberrant hypermethylation of DAPK and p16 genes in blood DNA from non-invasive bladder cancer patients might offer an effective means for earlier auxiliary diagnosis of the malignancy.
authors.affiliation: 1  Department of Urology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Zbigniew
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jabłonowski
authors.forename: Edyta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reszka
authors.forename: Jolanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gromadzińska
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wąsowicz
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sosnowski