Study on detection of aberrant promoter hypermethylation of p16 and DAP kinase in serum DNA from patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

To explore the feasibility of detection of aberrant methylaion of p16 and death-associated protein kinase gene as biological markers for the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The methylation of p16 and death-associated protein kinase gene in serum and primary NSCLC tumors from 30 NSCLC patients was detected by using methylation-specific PCR methods. Aberrant methylation of at least one gene was detected in 18 of 30 (60.0%) in NSCLC tumor tissues. In these primary tumors with methylation, 9 of 18 (50.0%) samples also was detected abnormal methylation in the matched serum samples, but not in any paired normal lung tissue and healthy control subjects. Detection of aberrant methylation in the serum of NSCLC patients may have implications for early diagnosis of NSCLC.