Methylation status in the promoter region of Dickkopf-3 gene in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes

Abstract

Objective To investigate the methylation status in the promoter region of Dickkopf-3 (Dkk3) gene in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS),and to initially explore the relationship between the methylation of this gene and survival time.Methods Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) was applied to measure the promoter methylation of Dkk3 gene in 43 bone marrow or peripheral blood samples of MDS patients.As controls,70 normal peripheral blood samples from general outpatients were examined.Results In 43 patients with MDS,7 patients (16.3 ％) showed Dkk3 gene methylation.And 5 of them were semi-methylation status,2 of them were exhaustive methylation status.In 70 controls,1 showed Dkk3 gene semi-methylation.The frequency of methylation in MDS patients was significantly higher than that of controls (x2 =8.93,P =0.005).In the Dkk3 methylation group,2/7 were from bone marrow and 5/7 were from peripheral blood.Meanwhile,2 patients were RA,1 patient was RCMD,4 patients were RAEB.There was no significant difference between the different sample source (bone marrow or peripheral blood) for the results of the methylation status (x2 =0.051,P =0.821).Either between the different sex,age,type,chromosome and WPSS score (P ＞ 0.05).The progress of disease didn't influence the methylation frequency (P ＞ 0.05).The smvival analysis showed no relationship between the methylation of this gene and smvival time.Conclusions In this MDS group,there is high level of methyl-modification in Dkk3 gene.The methylation of Dkk3 might be one of the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the progress of patients with MDS.The peripheral blood sample maybe a better substitute in detective of Dkk3 with MDS. Key words: Myelodysplastic syndromes; Dickkopf-3 gene; Methylation; Peripheral blood