Korean J Obstet Gynecol.
2007 Jul;50(7):997-1002.
DNA methylation of Bcl-2 family genes in cancer cells
- Affiliations
-
- 1Graduate School of Life Science & Biotechnology, Pochon CHA University School of Medicine, Seongnam, South Korea. jeehyeon1@naver.com
- 2Women's Cancer Clinic, Pochon CHA Hospital, Seongnam, South Korea.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Promoter methylation of Bcl-2 family genes in cancer cells were studied to verify possible correlation between DNA methylation pattern of Bcl-2 family members and cancer.
METHODS
The genomic DNAs were extracted from different cancer cell lines, HeLa, CaSki and K562, and ovarian cancer tissue from patients. The cytosine residues were converted to uracil by sodium bisulfite treatment. MSP (methylation specific PCR) was performed to determine the methylation status of Bcl-2, Mcl-1, Noxa, and Harakiri promoters. Using primers that distinguish methylated DNA from unmethylated DNA after bisulfite modification of DNA, MSP was conducted to observe the methylation pattern of Bcl-2 family genes in different cancer cells.
RESULTS
The promoter regions of Bcl-2 family genes including Mcl-1, Bcl-2, and Noxa were not methylated in cancer cells, whereas the proapoptotic Bcl-2 family gene Harakiri was detected as methylated in the cancer cell lines and hypomethylated in the ovarian cancer tissue.
CONCLUSION
The present study demonstrated the differential methylation profiles of Bcl-2 family genes in cancerous cells, which suggests a possible connection between the methylation pattern of some of Bcl-2 family genes and ovarian cancer.
