ABSTRACT
AIM: We examined the methylation status of SNCA and FBN1 genes in patients' paired tissue and stool samples for detection of colorectal cancer (CRC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: 89 DNA tissue samples (normal/cancer) and corresponding stool samples were analyzed in our study. In addition, 30 stool samples were collected as healthy controls. RESULTS: The methylation level of those samples was measured by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP). The result shows that compared with the paired controls, both SNCA and FBN1 were significantly hypermethylated in CRC patients in tissue samples (P < 0.001). In the stool samples, hypermethylated SNCA and FBN1 were detected to be significantly higher than that in normal stool samples (P < 0.001). The combined sensitivity of at least one positive among the two markers in stool samples was 84.3%, with a specificity of 93.3%. In addition, our experiment suggested that the positive rates of SNCA and FBN1 in Dukes A stage were significantly higher than that of FOBT (P = 0.039; P = 0.006, resp.). CONCLUSION: We concluded that methylation testing of SNCA and FBN1 genes in stool sample may offer a good alternative in a simple, promising, and noninvasive detection of colorectal cancer.
