Journal Article

Association of Promoter Methylation of VGF and PGP9.5 with Ovarian Cancer Progression

Fazio, Vito M., Wisman, G. Bea A., Brait, Mariana, Sidransky, David, Begum, Shahnaz, de Graeff, Pauline, Barbosa, Alvaro, Rabitti, Carla, Angioli, Roberto, Marchionni, Luigi, Poeta, Maria Luana, Hoque, Mohammad O., J. van der Zee, Ate G., Loyo, Myriam, Maldonado, Leonel, Noordhuis, Maartje

2013

Overview

To elucidate the role of biological and clinical impact of aberrant promoter hypermethylation (PH) in ovarian cancer (OC). PH of PGP9.5, HIC1, AIM1, APC, PAK3, MGMT, KIF1A, CCNA1, ESR1, SSBP2, GSTP1, FKBP4 and VGF were assessed by quantitative methylation specific PCR (QMSP) in a training set. We selected two genes (VGF and PGP9.5) for further QMSP analysis in a larger independent validation (IV) set with available clinical data. Biologic relevance of VGF gene was also evaluated. PH frequency for PGP9.5 and VGF were 85% (316/372) and 43% (158/366) respectively in the IV set of samples while no PH was observed in controls. In 372 OC cases with available follow up, PGP9.5 and VGF PH were correlated with better patient survival [Hazard Ratios (HR) for overall survival (OS) were 0.59 (95% Confidence Intervals (CI)  = 0.42-0.84, p = 0.004), and 0.73 (95%CI = 0.55-0.97, p = 0.028) respectively, and for disease specific survival (DSS) were 0.57 (95%CI 0.39-0.82, p = 0.003) and 0.72 (95%CI 0.54-0.96, p = 0.027). In multivariate analysis, VGF PH remained an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR 0.61, 95%CI 0.43-0.86, p<0.005) and DSS (HR 0.58, 95%CI 0.41-0.83, p<0.003). Furthermore, PGP9.5 PH was significantly correlated with lower grade, early stage tumors, and with absence of residual disease. Forced expression of VGF in OC cell lines inhibited cell growth. Our results indicate that VGF and PGP9.5 PH are potential biomarkers for ovarian carcinoma. Confirmatory cohorts with longitudinal follow-up are required in future studies to define the clinical impact of VGF and PGP9.5 PH before clinical application.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Aberration / Adenomatous polyposis coli / Adult / Aged / Azacitidine - analogs & derivatives / Azacitidine - pharmacology / Base Sequence / Bioindicators / Biological effects / Biomarkers / Cancer / Cohort Studies / Confidence intervals / Data processing / Decitabine / Design of experiments / Disease Progression / DNA Methylation / DNA Primers / Epigenetics / ESR1 protein / Experimental design / Female / Glutathione transferase / Health risk assessment / Humans / Methylation / Middle Aged / Multivariate analysis / Nerve Growth Factors - genetics / Ovarian cancer / Ovarian carcinoma / Ovarian Neoplasms - genetics / Ovarian Neoplasms - pathology / Promoter Regions, Genetic / Quality / Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Survival / Tumors / Ubiquitin Thiolesterase - genetics