J Cancer Prev.  2015 Sep;20(3):172-178. 10.15430/JCP.2015.20.3.172.

DNA Methylation as Surrogate Marker For Gastric Cancer

• Oh JH
• Jung SH
• Hong SJ
• Rhyu MG

• KMID: 2380867
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.15430/JCP.2015.20.3.172

Abstract

Stomach cancer remains, stubbornly, highly prevalent in East Asia. Still, stomach cancer has few biomarkers by which it can be predicted. Helicobacter pylori infection, a known carcinogen of stomach cancer, usually goes undetected prior to cancer diagnosis, due to the poor mucosal environments that its related gastric atrophy causes. We propose, herein, an endoscopic-biopsy-based cancer-predicting DNA methylation marker. We semi-quantitatively examined the methylation-variable sites near the CpG-island margins by radioisotope-labeling methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction in association with H. pylori, which increases age-related over-methylation in CpG islands of gastric mucosa. These age-related methylation patterns of the transitional-CpG sites are proposed as useful surrogate markers for stomach cancer. It would be helpful for setting the optimal screening interval for high-risk subjects as well as for estimating the prognosis and the predictability for recurrence of early gastric cancer in patients having undergone endoscopic submucosal dissection. New screening-interval guidelines for gastric cancer should be suggested considering individual risk based on age, severity of atrophy, H. pylori status, and DNA methylation pattern.

Keyword

Biological markers; CpG Islands; DNA methylation; Helicobacter pylori; Stomach neoplasms

MeSH Terms

Atrophy
Biomarkers*
CpG Islands
Diagnosis
DNA Methylation*
DNA*
Far East
Gastric Mucosa
Helicobacter pylori
Humans
Mass Screening
Methylation
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prognosis
Recurrence
Stomach Neoplasms*
DNA