title: Serum vimentin methylation as a potential marker for colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present study aimed to examine the feasibility of detecting vimentin (VIM) methylation in the serum of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and to determine the effectiveness of a relatively simple, inexpensive, and non-invasive test performed in combination with the conventional carcinoembryonic antigen analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  VIM methylation in the serum DNA of 242 patients with CRC was measured by a quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significantly higher positive rate was obtained for VIM methylation than for carcinoembryonic antigen or carbohydrate antigen 19-9 in stage 0, I, and II patients. The combination of all three markers yielded similar sensitivity for patients with disease of stage 0: 57.1%, I: 36.1%, II: 45.2%, and III: 55.4%, whereas the sensitivity reached 85.7% for patients with stage IV disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VIM methylation of serum DNA may be a useful marker for the early detection of CRC.
authors: Gastroenterological Surgery, Showa University Fujigaoka Hospital, Aoba-ku, Yokohama, Japan Gastroenterological Surgery, Yokohama Asahi Chuo General Hospital, Aoba-ku, Yokohama Japan shirahataa@asahi-hp.jp.
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Shirahata
authors: Gastroenterological Surgery, Showa University Fujigaoka Hospital, Aoba-ku, Yokohama, Japan.
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Hibi
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D004247:DNA / Q000097:blood; D019175:DNA Methylation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D014746:Vimentin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D014746:Vimentin; D004247:DNA
keywords: Colorectal cancer; methylation; vimentin