Expression and methylation status of CAV-1 gene in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Background and purpose: As one of the important epigenetic phenomena, DNA methylation plays an important regulatory function for the expression of genes. Study shows that abnormal changes of DNA methy-lation patterns of normal tumor cell genome leads to dysfunction of cancer related gene, and this may be associated with tumor occurrence and development. The study investigated the promoter methylation and expression of caveolin-1 (CAV-1) gene in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and to elucidate its role in ESCC. Methods:We used MSP approach, RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry method respectively to examine the methylation status of the 5’CpG island of CAV-1 gene and its expression at mRNA and protein levels in tumors and corresponding normal tissues. Results: CAV-1 mRNA expression in tumor tissues (0.86±0.56) was signiifcantly higher than that in corresponding normal tissues (0.40±0.36, P0.05). The promoter methylation frequency of CAV-1 in tumor specimens was 2.0%(1/51), and the methylation phenomenon has not been found in corresponding normal tissues. The promoter methylation fre-quency of CAV-1 in tumor specimens showed no signiifcant difference compared with the corresponding normal tissues (P>0.05). Conclusion:The mRNA and protein expression of CAV-1 in tumor specimens was signiifcantly higher than that in corresponding normal tissues. Aberrant high expression of CAV-1 has played a certain role in promoting tumori-genesis and lymph node metastasis. The expression both in ESCC and corresponding normal tissues has no correlation with the promoter methylation status.