Methylation status of MUC2 gene in pancreatic carcinoma cell lines and peripheral blood of pancreatic carcinoma patients

Abstract

Objective To analyze the methylation status of MUC2 gene in pancreatic carcinoma cell lines and peripheral blood of pancreatic carcinoma patients,and to explore the role of MUC2 methylation in the early diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma.Methods Human pancreatic cancer cell lines of SW1990,ASPC,PANC1,BxPC3,PaTu8988 and CFPAC1,and 40 peripheral blood samples of pancreatic carcinoma patients,15 cases of chronic pancreatitis,25 cases of normal controls were collected,and the methylation status of MUC2 gene was detected by methylation sensitive restriction endonuclease PCR.Results MUC2 methylation was not detected in PANC1,BxPC3,PaTu8988,but was detected in ASPC,CFPAC1,SW1990.Among the peripheral blood samples,the rate of methylation in pancreatic cancer was 40.O%(n=16),in chronic pancreatitis was 0%,in normal controls was 4.0%(n=1),and the difference among the three groups was statistically significant(P＜0.01).The methylation of MUC2 gene CpG islands for the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma had a sensitivity of 40%,specificity of 97.5%,accuracy of 68.8%,positive predictive value of 94.1%and negative predictive value of 61.9%.Conclusions The detection of MUC2 hypermethylation in peripheral blood samples may be an potential marker for early diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasms; Methylation; MUC2 genes; Polymerase chain reaction