title: Biological significance of the CpG island methylator phenotype.
abstract: Cancers exhibiting the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) are found among a wide variety of human malignancies and represent a subclass of tumors showing concurrent hypermethylation of multiple CpG islands. These CIMP-positive tumors often exhibit characteristic molecular and clinicopathological features, suggesting CIMP represents a distinct carcinogenic pathway. However, marker genes to define CIMP have been largely inconsistent among studies, which has caused results to vary. Nonetheless, recent advances in genome-wide methylation analysis have enabled the existence of CIMP to be confirmed, and large-scale cancer genome analyses have begun to unravel the previously unknown molecular basis of CIMP tumors. CIMP is strongly associated with clinical outcome, suggesting it may be a predictive biomarker.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan. Electronic address: hsuzuki@sapmed.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hiromu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Eiichiro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Reo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niinuma
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kai
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D018899:CpG Islands; D019175:DNA Methylation; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000235:genetics; D011379:Prognosis
keywords: Biomarker; Cancer; CpG island; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Genetic instability