HPP1 gene promoter methylation in pancreatic cancer: correlation with carcinogenesis and clinical implication

Aberrant methylation of the promoter region in a tumor suppressor gene is a significant early event in carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer. Methylation status of a tumor suppressor gene may be useful as a diagnostic marker for early detection of pancreatic cancer. The current study evaluated methylation status of the hyperplastic polyposis 1 (HPP1) gene transcriptional regulation region (TRR) in pancreatic cancer and normal tissue samples by bisulfite-specific PCR (BSP) cloningbased sequencing analysis and quantitative methylationspecific PCR (qMSP). Correlation of methylation with the clinicopathological characteristics of the pancreatic cancer patients was also assessed. The results demonstrated that the HPP1 promoter was significantly hypermethylated in the pancreatic cancer tissues compared with normal tissues and a significant correlation between HPP1 methylation level and tumor-node-metastasis stage was observed. Thus, our study suggests that methylation of the HPP1 gene is a potential clinically diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer.