title: Associations between TFPI-2 methylation and poor prognosis in glioblastomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes plays an important role in gliomagenesis. Recently, tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 (TFPI-2) has been suggested as a tumor suppressor gene involved in tumorigenesis and metastasis in some cancers. However, to date, little is known about the methylation status of TFPI-2 gene in glioblastoma tissues. In this study, we aimed to investigate the methylation status of TFPI-2 promoter and its associations with patient prognosis in glioblastoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  The methylation status of TFPI-2 was investigated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction in 99 glioblastoma patients. The associations between patients' clinical variables and overall survival time were assessed. RESULTS. TFPI-2 was aberrantly methylated in 22.2% (22/99) of glioblastoma tumors, but was not methylated in normal brain samples. The survival of patients with glioblastoma differed significantly between the methylated and unmethylated TFPI-2 groups (P=0.047). The 2-year survival among patients carrying methylated TFPI-2 tumors was significantly lower compared with that of patients with unmethylated TFPI-2 (27% versus 4.7%, P=0.037).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present work demonstrated that the epigenetic inactivation of TFPI-2 by promoter hypermethylation was a frequent and tumor-specific event in glioblastoma, and TFPI-2 promoter methylation might be considered as a prognostic marker in glioblastoma.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurooncology and Genetics, Neuroscience Institute, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Eivenių 4, 50161 Kaunas, Lithuania. p.grigaite@gmail.com
authors.forename: Paulina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vaitkienė
authors.forename: Daina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Skiriutė
authors.forename: Kęstutis
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Skauminas
authors.forename: Arimantas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tamašauskas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; C021240:tissue-factor-pathway inhibitor 2