Analysis of promoter methylation in IGFBP3 and TWIST1 gene for early detection of colorectal tumors in stool of patients

Abstract Purpose: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relative level of methylation of this gene in stool samples of colorectal cancer patients.Methods: In present study, stool samples were collected from 40 colorectal cancer patients and 40 healthy controls. After collecting the DNA of the samples, the extracts were treated by sulfite method and the methylation of the target site was evaluated by met-HRM method. Differences in methylation level of the two groups were evaluated by appropriate statistical tests. P value <0.05 was considered significant.Results: The relative methylation rate of the studied genes (IGFBP3 and TWIST1) in the stool samples was lower than that of the healthy groups and this difference was significant in the confidence interval (P< 0.0001 and P< 0.0025, respectively). Meanwhile, this genes has no significant association with clinical findings Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the IGFBP3 and TWIST1 methylation could be used as a diagnostic biomarker in colorectal cancer. However, it is better to do more studies on the level of protein.