Serum SOX11 promoter methylation is a novel biomarker for the diagnosis of Hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Promoter methylation of tumor suppressor gene SOX11 has been reported to contribute to the diagnosis and prognosis of various cancerous diseases, including gastric cancer, hematopoietic malignancies and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, there is no data on the diagnostic potential of serum SOX11 promoter methylation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study was therefore aimed to investigate the potential role of serum SOX11 promoter methylation as a noninvasive biomarker in the diagnosis of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated HCC. A total of 205 subjects were retrospectively included, which consisted of 111 HCC patients, 66 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and 28 healthy controls (HCs). Methylation of SOX11 promoter was determined by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. The methylation frequency of serum SOX11 promoter in HCC patients (69.4%, 77/111) was significantly higher than that in CHB patients (13.6%, 9/66; χ2 = 51.467, P<0.001) and HCs (10.7%, 3/28; χ2 = 31.489, P<0.001). There was significant difference of serum SOX11 promoter methylation in HCC patients with vascular invasion (49/58) and those without vascular invasion (28/53; χ2 = 13.058, P<0.001). Furthermore, the sensitivity of 69% was identified for SOX11 methylation in discriminating HCC from CHB, which was significant higher than the sensitivity of 57% for serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (P<0.05). Notably, SOX11 promoter methylation plus AFP showed a sensitivity of 85% in discriminating HCC from CHB. These results suggested that serum SOX11 promoter methylation might serve as a useful and noninvasive biomarker for the diagnosis of HCC.

Overexpression miR‐211‐5p hinders the proliferation, migration, and invasion of thyroid tumor cells by downregulating SOX11

“…MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of aroud‐22 nucleotide non‐coding small RNAs, and it is confirmed that they have a close association with many cancers . In the meantime, as one of the tumor antigenic precursor proteins (TAPP), SOX11 has also been confirmed to be related with many cancers . According to the prediction of miR‐base and our microarray assays, we predicted the target relationship between SOX11 and miR‐211‐5p.…”

“…31,32 In the meantime, as one of the tumor antigenic precursor proteins (TAPP), SOX11 has also been confirmed to be related with many cancers. [33][34][35] According to the prediction of miR-base and our microarray assays, we predicted the target relationship between SOX11 and miR-211-5p. Their interplay in TC was investigated in this study, which may eventually contribute to a novel treatment of TC.…”

SHISA3Promoter Methylation Is a Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker for Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…DNA methylation is one of the most widely studied epigenetic changes [19]. Previous studies have shown that the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) in numerous cancers, including LSCC, may be attributed to the hypermethylation of CpG islands in the promoter region [20, 21]. DNA methylation can provide an alternative target in the search for biomarkers that could provide a sensitive, specific, and early marker for cancer diagnosis and prognosis [22, 23].…”

SOX Genes and Cancer

“…In addition, significant difference of serum SOX11 promoter methylation in HCC patients with vascular invasion and those without vascular invasion was found. Moreover, serum SOX11 promoter methylation was found to be more sensitive than serum alpha-fetoprotein for discriminating HCC from CHB [87]. Previous studies also reported SOX11 functions an oncogene during tumorigenesis.…”