Methylation Status of NANOG1, RASSF1A, SFN, CASP8, WIF1,CTSL2 Genes in Iranian Breast Cancer Patients

Background: Mammographic screening to diagnose the breast cancer showe false-negative and false-positive results in young women and therefore a non-invasive and low cost method is needed, to diagnose the breast cancer in the early stages. DNA methylation changes are the most common molecular changes in human cancers and including breast cancer. Therefore, The pattern of tissues methylation can be used in the early diagnosis of cancer. Also similar methylation patterns found in tumors and in plasma shows potential application of molecular detection of breast cancer, based on blood. The aim of this study was to assess the promoter methylation for the clinical diagnosis of breast cancer. Material and Methods: To examine the promoter methylation 21 tumor tissues and 21 normal tissues have been studied for clinical diagnosis of breast cancer. 6 gene methylation status (NANOG1, RASSF1A, SFN, CASP8, WIF1 and CTSL2) was analyzed by methylation specific PCR (MS-PCR). Results: The results show that NANOG gene was methylated in 94.7% of tumor specimen and 100% of normal specimen, RASSF1A gene was methylated in 9.5% of tumor specimen and 0% of normal specimen, SFN gene was methylated in 14.3% of tumor specimen and 27.8% of normal specimen, CASP8 gene was methylated in 30% of tumor specimen and 23.5% of normal specimen, WIF1 gene was methylated in 80% of tumor specimen and 27.8% of normal specimen, CTSL2 gene was methylated in 28.6% of tumor specimen and 23.5 % of normal specimen were methylated. Data analysis did not show a significant relationship between these results. (P >0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that 6 gene methylation status was not enough to differentiate between the cancer and normal groups. This study demonstrates the methodological problems (MS PCR) which was used to assess the methylation markers to evaluate the methylation status as diagnostic biomarkers.