DNA hypermethylation and clinicopathological features in breast cancer: The Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer (WEB) Study

Meng Hua Tao, Peter G. Shields, Jing Nie, Amy Millen, Christine B. Ambrosone, Stephen B. Edge, Shiva S. Krishnan, Catalin Marian, Bin Xie, Janet Winston, Dominica Vito, Maurizio Trevisan, Jo L. Freudenheim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aberrant DNA hypermethylation of gene promoter regions has been increasingly recognized as a common molecular alteration in carcinogenesis. We evaluated the association between major clinicopathological features and hypermethylation of genes in tumors among 803 incidence breast cancer cases from a large population-based case-control study conducted in Western New York State. DNA samples were isolated from archive paraffin embedded tumor tissue and were analyzed for hypermethylation status of the E-cadherin, p16, and RAR-β 2 genes using real time methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. The frequencies of hypermethylation were 20.0% for E-cadherin, 25.9% for p16, and 27.5% for RAR-β 2 genes. For postmenopausal women, hypermethylation of E-cadherin tended to be more likely in progesterone receptor (PR) negative than in PR-positive tumors (odds ratio (OR), 1.41; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.91-2.18). Hypermethylation of p16 tended to be more frequent among estrogen receptor (ER) negative cases than ER-positive cases (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.01-2.32). Hypermethylation of RAR-β 2 gene was inversely associated with histological and nuclear grade of breast cancer.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)559-568
Number of pages10
JournalBreast Cancer Research and Treatment
Volume114
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2009

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Epidemiology
  • Estrogen receptor
  • Hypermethylation
  • Progesterone receptor

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'DNA hypermethylation and clinicopathological features in breast cancer: The Western New York Exposures and Breast Cancer (WEB) Study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this