No abstract

Focal CpG island hypermethylation and diffuse genomic hypomethylation signify the changes in the DNA methylation status in cancer cells. ALU and LINE-1 repetitive DNA elements comprise~28% of the human genome. PCR-based measurements of these repetitive DNA elements can be used as a surrogate marker of the genomewide methylation content. Our study aimed to identify the timing of ALU and LINE-1 hypomethylations during multistep gastric carcinogenesis and their prognostic implications in gastric cancer (GC). In our study, we analyzed the methylation statuses of ALU and LINE-1 in 249 cases of gastric biopsy samples and another independent set of 198 cases of advanced GC by pyrosequencing. Regardless of the Helicobacter pylori infection status, a significant decrease in the ALU methylation levels was noted during the transitions from chronic gastritis to intestinal metaplasia and from gastric adenoma to GC. LINE-1 methylation decreased during the transition from intestinal metaplasia to gastric adenoma and no further decrease occurred during the transition from gastric adenoma to GC. A low LINE-1 methylation status was strongly associated with poor prognosis in GC. A multivariate analysis revealed that LINE-1 methylation status was an independent prognostic factor. Our findings suggest that ALU and LINE-1 hypomethylations are early events during multistep gastric carcinogenesis. Furthermore, the LINE-1 methylation status can be used as a molecular biomarker to define a subset of GC patients with poor prognosis.Focal promoter CpG island hypermethylation and generalized genomic hypomethylation signify the changes in the DNA methylation status in human cancer cells. Promoter CpG island hypermethylation is an important mechanism that inactivates tumor suppressor and tumor-related genes; meanwhile, generalized genomic hypomethylation contributes to genomic or chromosomal instability.1-3 Genomic hypomethylation mainly affects repetitive transposable DNA elements, which comprise 45% of the human genome 4 ; these elements reside mainly in the intergenic and intronic regions of the genome and in noncoding and coding exons of the genome to a much lesser extent.5 Long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) and ALU are major constituents of interspersed DNA repeats, constituting $17% and 11% of the human genome, respectively. 4CpG sites located within LINE-1 and ALU are usually methylated in normal somatic tissues, a mechanism that is believed to have evolved as a major defense mechanism to repress these transposable genetic elements.6 Demethylation of transposable elements is hypothesized to facilitate genomic instability by leading to retrotransposition of transposable elements, hypomethylated genome-associated error-prone repair of replication-independent endogenous double-strand breaks, and dysregulation of DNA repair genes. [7][8][9][10][11] In addition to bringing about genomic structural variation, demethylation of transposable element promoters dysregulates gene expression by upregulating the transcription of genes l...

Background:Normal cells are sensitive to anoikis, which is a cell detachment-induced apoptosis. However, cancer cells acquire anoikis resistance that is essential for successful metastasis. This study aimed to demonstrate the function and potential mechanism of NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) and EGFR activation in regulating anoikis resistance in lung cancer.Methods:Cells were cultured either in the attached or suspended condition. Cell viability was measured by cell counting and live and dead cell staining. Expression levels of NOX4 and EGFR were measured by PCR and immunoblotting. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were measured by flow cytometry. Effects of NOX4 overexpression or NOX4 knockdown by si-NOX4 on anoikis sensitivity were explored. Levels of NOX4 and EGFR in lung cancer tissues were evaluated by IHC staining.Results:NOX4 was upregulated but EGFR decreased in suspended cells compared with attached cells. Accordingly, ROS levels were increased in suspended cells, resulting in the activation of Src and EGFR. NOX4 knockdown decreased activation of Src and EGFR, and thus sensitised cells to anoikis. NOX4 overexpression increased EGFR levels and attenuated anoikis. NOX4 expression is upregulated and is positively correlated with EGFR levels in the lung cancer patient tissues.Conclusions:NOX4 upregulation confers anoikis resistance by ROS-mediated activation of EGFR and Src, and by maintaining EGFR levels, which is critical for cell survival.

These results provide useful information regarding the clinical outcomes after therapeutic lateral neck dissection for primary PTC and can be used to identify at-risk patients who need aggressive treatment and intensive surveillance for postoperative recurrence.

Gastric carcinoma (GC) is one of the human cancers in which promoter CpG island hypermethylation is frequently found. We used the MethyLight assay to evaluate the methylation status of 16 CpG island loci that are hypermethylated in GC. We analyzed the relationship between CpG island hypermethylation of these 16 genes and the clinicopathological features in 191 advanced GCs. A significant difference was observed between the number of methylated genes in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-negative and microsatellite instability (MSI)-negative GCs of different histological types (Lauren classification; P < 0.01). We found that mixed-type (MT) carcinomas, which have both diffuse-type (DT) and intestinal-type (IT) components, had more methylated genes (10.6) than either DT carcinomas (7.6 methylated genes) or IT carcinomas (6.7 methylated genes) (P < 0.001). This trend was also observed when EBV-positive or MSI-positive GCs were excluded from the analysis (9.2, 6.9, and 4.8; P < 0.001). When the IT and DT components were dissected from MT carcinomas and the methylation of these 16 genes was evaluated, both components had a number of methylated genes similar to MT carcinomas, (10.2 and 9.7, respectively), which was significantly higher than was found in IT and DT carcinomas (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that MT carcinoma is distinct from IT and DT carcinomas in its enhanced CpG island hypermethylation status and implicate the enhanced promoter CpG island hypermethylation in the histogenesis of MT carcinoma.