High resolution based quantitative determination of methylation status of CDH1 and VIM gene in epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract

Background: DNA promoter methylation is widely explored epigenetic phenomena, known to effect gene expression and further perturbation in cellular homeostasis. Myriad of studies have leveraged promoter methylation and its potential as biomarker for various types of cancer. Aim of present study is to investigate promoter methylation of CDH1 and VIM gene and etiology of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods: Most of previous studies were qualitative; we have quantitatively assessed methylation levels in 50 EOC cases and control each through high recognition melt (HRM) technique. Results: At 10 % cutoff for CDH1 94% of EOC cases were found to be methylated with mean methylation of 45±13.8, whereas for control mean methylation was found to be 7.3±3.7 amongst 16 % methylation positive control samples. For VIM methylation was detected in 96% of cases with mean of 50.44±11.7 in EOC and in 12% methylation positive samples for control mean methylation was 6.24±4.3. Conclusion: In short HRM based DNA methylation can serve as a robust and sensitive diagnostic method for promoter methylation detection and as a biomarker for early epithelial ovarian cancer detection.