G. Ramesh1, S. Sandeep Kumar2, Shalini N. Swamy3, C. S. Premalata4, V. R. Pallavi5
PURPOSE: The main aim of the study was to assess the hypermethylation pattern of the tumor suppressor gene RAR-β in the plasma of patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma and to study its role in the tumorigenesis of EOC and suggest its use as a biomarker in the early diagnosis of the disease by non-invasive methods.
METHODS: 72 plasma samples, 10 corresponding matched tumor tissue specimens and 10 non-cancerous plasma samples were assessed for the aberrant hypermethylation of RAR-β by nested and MSP.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data was analyzed by Fischer test and Chi Square test. The analysis for the study was performed using SPSS software version 21.0 and a p-value <0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS: Of the 72 plasma samples included in the study 17 samples showed aberrant hypermethylation of RAR-β promoter corresponding to a methylation frequency of 23.61%. Benign sample group in comparison to malignant and low malignant potential tumor groups showed a higher methylation percentage of 33.33% suggesting that hypermethylation may be an early event in ovarian cancer progression.
