Abstract:Objective:To investigate the promoter methylation status and mRNA expression of SFRP1 and APC gene in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).
Methods :Methylation specific PCR was employed to detect the methylation status of APC and SFRP1 gene promoter in 30 HCC and their adjacent non-cancerous tissues, 10 normal hepatic tissues. Expression of SFRP1 and APC mRNA was also determined by reverse transcriptase PCR in the aforesaid tissues. The correlation between methylation and mRNA expression of the two genes and clinical data in patients with HCC was analyzed.
Results:SFRP1 promoter methylation was observed in 11/30, 4/30, 0/10 and APC promoter methylation was observed in 14/30, 5/30, 0/10 in HCC, adjacent non-cancerous tissues and normal hepatic tissues, respectively. Methylation of SFRP1 and APC genes in HCC increased significantly compared with the other two groups（P＜0.05）. No correlation was found between methylation status of SFRP1 gene and clinical data（P＞0.05）. Significant correlation between methylation of APC gene with age younger than 60 years-old and in carcinomas without pseudo-capsule were observed. Expression level of SFRP1 gene mRNA in HCC was significantly lower compared with the other two groups. Statistically significant differences of APC mRNA expression was not found among the three groups. No correlation between methylation of SFRP1 and APC genes was observed.
Conclusions:The aberrant promoter methylation of APC and SFRP1 genes are both related to hepatocarcinogenesis and HCC progress, but the relationships between methylation and mRNA expression of the genes in HCC remain unclear.