Relationship between promoter methylation of Syk and Runx3 genes and postoperative recurrence and metastasis in gastric carcinoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between aberrant methylation of Syk and Runx3 genes and recurrence and metastasis after resection of gastric cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Applying methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction technique, promoter methylation of Syk and Runx3 genes in the tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues of gastric cancer patients were detected to investigate the relationship between methylation status of the promoter region of Syk and Runx3 genes and postoperative recurrence and metastasis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the 70 cases of gastric cancer, the frequencies of promoter methylation of Syk and Runx3 genes were 45.7% (32/70) and 55.7% (39/70) in gastric cancer, and 0 (0/70) and 7.1% (5/70), respectively, in the adjacent normal tissues. The rates of promoter methylation of Syk and Runx3 genes in the gastric cancers were significantly higher than that in the adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.001 for all). The promoter methylation of Syk and Runx3 genes was significantly correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and pathological staging (P < 0.05 for all). The frequency of postoperative recurrence and metastasis in 32 patients with Syk promoter methylation was 65.6% (21/32) and that in 38 cases with Syk promoter unmethylation was 18.4% (7/38), showing a significant difference between the two subgroups (χ(2) = 16.13, P < 0.001). The rate of postoperative recurrence and metastasis in 39 patients with Runx3 promoter methylation was 61.5% (24/39) and that in 31 patients with Runx3 promoter unmethylation was 12.9% (4/31, P < 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The methylation of Syk and Runx3 promoters plays an important role in postoperative recurrence and metastasis of gastric cancer. Combined detection of promoter methylation of Syk and Runx3 genes is helpful for early diagnosis and evaluation of prognosis of gastric cancer.</p>