Abstract
In diffuse gastric carcinoma, despite common E-cadherin gene (CDH1) mutations, tumors show absence of CDH1 loss of heterozigosity (LOH) in most cases. This observation challenges the classical two-hit model of tumor suppressor gene inactivation. In order to investigate whether or not CDH1 promoter methylation may function as the second hit we analysed a series of 23 sporadic gastric carcinomas for the presence of CDH1 mutations, CDH1 promoter methylation, LOH and E-cadherin expression. CDH1 mutations were detected in nine of the 16 (56.3%) diffuse gastric carcinomas and in none of the seven intestinal gastric carcinomas. In diffuse gastric carcinomas harboring CDH1 mutations, LOH was observed in a single case. Loss of plasma membrane E-cadherin expression was consistently found in all nine cases with CDH1 mutation, suggesting that tumors inactivated the remaining CDH1 allele via a different mechanism. CDH1 promoter methylation was observed in nine of the 16 (56.3%) diffuse-type gastric carcinoma cases, including six of the nine cases (66.7%) harboring CDH1 mutations. CDH1 promoter methylation was also seen in two (28.6%) intestinal-type cases. Our results show that CDH1 promoter methylation is the second hit in more than half of the sporadic diffuse gastric carcinoma cases harboring CDH1 mutations.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.