Tumor Severity Linked to DNA Methylation

They reported in the October 1, 2003, issue of Cancer Research that genes from normal breast cells showed low-to-moderate methylation in the exon and little or no methylation in the promoter. Nearly one-third of breast tumors sampled also showed low levels of methylation in the promoter region. The remaining tumor cells and all the breast-cancer cell lines showed moderate-to-high levels of methylation in the exon and various degrees of methylation in the promoter.

"Our findings show that progressive methylation occurs in tumors from patients and support the idea that methylation begins in the exons and extends into the promoter,” said senior author Dr.Tim Hui-Ming Huang, associate professor of human cancer genetics at Ohio State University.



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