Abstract

Background:There are challenging reports in the public health sphere regarding associations between oral contraceptive (OC) use and cancer risk.Methods:To evaluate possible effects of OCs on cancer susceptibility, we quantified of global 5-methyl cytosine (5-mC) levels and assessed methylation patterns of CpG islands of two key tumor suppressor genes, APC1 and ESR1, in serum of users by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and methylation specific PCR methods, respectively.Results:Our results indicated that OCs significantly decrease the level of global DNA methylation in users relative to control non-users. However, our data revealed no significant differences between CpG island methylation patterns for ESR1 and APC1 in healthy control and OC-treated women. However, we did find a trend for hypermethylation of both tumor suppressor genes in OC users.Conclusion:Our data suggest that the level of 5-mC but not individual CpG island patterns is significantly influenced by OCs in our cross-section of adult users.

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