title: 5'-CpG island promoter hypermethylation of the CAV-1 gene in breast cancer patients of Kashmir.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Caveolin-1 (CAV-1), encoding the structural component of cellular caveolae, is a suggested tumor suppressor gene involved in cell signalling. Aberrant promoter methylation of CAV-1 is associated with inactivation of expression. We previously observed CAV-1 mutations in breast cancers and therefore devised this study to examine the hypermethylation status of the promoter region of CAV-1 with reference to breast cancer progression and development.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hypermethylation status of CAV-1 was analyzed by methylation specific PCR. Loss of expression of the CAV-1 gene was further evaluated by semi-quantitative rt-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  28/130 (21.5%) breast cancer cases showed promoter hypermethylation with reduced CAV-1 expression levels when compared with adjacent normal breast tissue. CAV-1 gene hypermethylation was significantly related to menopausal status, histopathological grade and age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rationale of our study is that CAV-1 gene is transcriptionally repressed in breast cancer cells due to hypermethylation. Our results reveal that promoter hypermethylation and loss of expression of the CAV-1 gene is an important alternative mechanism for inactivation of CAV-1 leading to complete gene silencing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar, Kashmir.
authors.forename: Nidda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Syeed
authors.forename: Firdous
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.forename: Syed Akhtar
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Husain
authors.forename: Mushtaq A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Siddiqi
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D051242:Caveolin 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018899:CpG Islands / Q000235:genetics*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011379:Prognosis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C495540:CAV1 protein, human; D051242:Caveolin 1; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D012333:RNA, Messenger