BACKGROUND: Many cadherins (CDH) are associated with various types of cancer and their genetic and epigenetic alterations might be involved in carcinogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined the methylation status of CDH genes in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and corresponding noncancerous liver tissues derived from 47 patients, and evaluated the correlation with clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: Hypermethylation was detected at a ratio ranging from 0% to 55.3%. In particular, M-cadherin (CDH15) was the most hypermethylated of 7 CDH genes. Patients with methylated M-cadherin had shorter 5-year survival rates than patients with unmethylated M-cadherin (overall survival rates, 67.4% vs. 82.7%; p = 0.0167) when assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Multivariate analysis revealed that M-cadherin methylation status was an independent predictor of survival. CONCLUSION: We found that M-cadherin methylation status has prognostic significance for the poorer survival of patients with HCC. This is the first definitive report of a correlation between M-cadherin and the prognosis of patients with HCC.
BACKGROUND: Many cadherins (CDH) are associated with various types of cancer and their genetic and epigenetic alterations might be involved in carcinogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined the methylation status of CDH genes in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and corresponding noncancerous liver tissues derived from 47 patients, and evaluated the correlation with clinicopathological parameters. RESULTS: Hypermethylation was detected at a ratio ranging from 0% to 55.3%. In particular, M-cadherin (CDH15) was the most hypermethylated of 7 CDH genes. Patients with methylated M-cadherin had shorter 5-year survival rates than patients with unmethylated M-cadherin (overall survival rates, 67.4% vs. 82.7%; p = 0.0167) when assessed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Multivariate analysis revealed that M-cadherin methylation status was an independent predictor of survival. CONCLUSION: We found that M-cadherin methylation status has prognostic significance for the poorer survival of patients with HCC. This is the first definitive report of a correlation between M-cadherin and the prognosis of patients with HCC.
Authors: Altuna Akalin; Francine E Garrett-Bakelman; Matthias Kormaksson; Jennifer Busuttil; Lu Zhang; Irina Khrebtukova; Thomas A Milne; Yongsheng Huang; Debabrata Biswas; Jay L Hess; C David Allis; Robert G Roeder; Peter J M Valk; Bob Löwenberg; Ruud Delwel; Hugo F Fernandez; Elisabeth Paietta; Martin S Tallman; Gary P Schroth; Christopher E Mason; Ari Melnick; Maria E Figueroa Journal: PLoS Genet Date: 2012-06-21 Impact factor: 5.917