Demethylation of the CDH3 gene is frequently detected in advanced colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND Recently, it has been proven that the CDH3 promoter was hypomethylated in colonic aberrant foci and colorectal cancer. The hypomethylation was also associated with induction of CDH3 expression in colorectal cancer. These results indicated that epigenetic demethylation of the CDH3 promoter in the human intestine permits its ectopic expression in colorectal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS The demethylation status of the CDH3 gene was examined in primary carcinomas and the corresponding normal tissues derived from 53 patients with colorectal cancer using quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP) and the correlation between the demethylation status and the clinicopathological findings was evaluated. RESULTS Aberrant demethylation of the CDH3 gene was detected in 41 out of the 53 (77%) primary colon carcinomas. The clinicopathological data were correlated with the demethylation results. A significant difference was observed in the tumor site and Dukes' stage (p=0.0187 and p=0.0192, respectively). Moreover, a trend was shown toward preferentially developing tumor size (p=0.140). CONCLUSION These results indicated that CDH3 was more frequently demethylated in advanced colorectal carcinomas.