Detection of TFPI2 methylation in the serum of gastric cancer patients.

摘要

BACKGROUND: Methylation of tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI2) has been detected in the stool of colorectal cancer patients. Using quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (qMSP), 39 out of 215 (18%) patients exhibited TFPI2 methylation in their serum DNA, suggesting that a significant number of methylated TFPI2 existed in colorectal cancer patients' sera. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Methylation status of the TFPI2 gene was examined in sera derived from 73 patients with gastric cancer using qMSP and the correlation between the methylation status and the clinicopathological findings was evaluated. RESULTS: Out of 73 serum samples, 7 (10%) exhibited TFPI2 methylation in their serum DNA by qMSP, suggesting that TFPI2 methylation existed in the serum of gastric cancer patients. After completion of qMSP analysis of all specimens, clinicopathological data were correlated with the molecular analysis. TFPI2 methylation was significantly more frequently found in serum of patients with lymph node metastasis (p=0.0040) and distant metastasis (p=0.0115). CONCLUSION: In principle, knowledge of the methylation status of a primary tumor is not required in advance in order to be able to detect circulating tumor DNA. Therefore, qMSP could be used as a cancer screening method.