RESUMO
AIM: Detection of gastric cancer using serum assay of vimentin methylation. METHODS: A quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction assay was used to detect vimentin gene (VIM) methylation in the serum of 71 patients with gastric cancer. RESULTS: Mean VIM methylation in cancer patients (0.304 ± 0.558) was significantly higher than that in healthy donors (0.011 ± 0.015, p=0.018). The sensitivity of VIM methylation (33.8%) was similar to the one of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) (25.4%), higher than the one of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (12.7%), and significantly higher than the sensitivity of both markers for patients with stage I and IV disease (p=0.010 and 0.044, respectively). At all stages, the sensitivity of a combination of markers was higher than the sensitivity of any in isolation marker and was similar for stages I, II and III, reaching 76.9% for stage IV disease. CONCLUSION: VIM methylation may represent a useful marker for the detection of tumor DNA in the serum of patients with gastric cancer.