title: Detection of vimentin methylation in the serum of patients with gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Detection of gastric cancer using serum assay of vimentin methylation.
  
  
  METHODS
  A quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction assay was used to detect vimentin gene (VIM) methylation in the serum of 71 patients with gastric cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean VIM methylation in cancer patients (0.304 ± 0.558) was significantly higher than that in healthy donors (0.011 ± 0.015, p=0.018). The sensitivity of VIM methylation (33.8%) was similar to the one of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) (25.4%), higher than the one of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (12.7%), and significantly higher than the sensitivity of both markers for patients with stage I and IV disease (p=0.010 and 0.044, respectively). At all stages, the sensitivity of a combination of markers was higher than the sensitivity of any in isolation marker and was similar for stages I, II and III, reaching 76.9% for stage IV disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VIM methylation may represent a useful marker for the detection of tumor DNA in the serum of patients with gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterological Surgery, Showa University Fujigaoka Hospital, 1-30 Fujigaoka, Aoba-ku, Yokohama 227-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shirahata
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakuraba
authors.forename: Youhei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Kazuaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokomizo
authors.forename: Tetsurou
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gotou
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saitou
authors.forename: Gaku
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kigawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sanada
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hibi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008745:Methylation; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D014746:Vimentin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D014746:Vimentin