[Detection of aberrant promoter CpG islands hypermethylation of GSTP1 in human primary hepatocellular carcinomas].

Objective: To detect the aberrant promoter CpG islands hypermethylation status of GSTP1 gene in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and to assess its significant role in hepatocarcinogenesis.
Methods: Surgically resected cancerous and non-cancerous liver tissues of 26 hepatocellular carcinoma patients were obtained from West China Hospital, and 11 peripheral blood samples from healthy donors as negative control were collected. Breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with CpG islands hypermethylation of GSTP1 as positive control was obtained from the Cell Bank of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. All genomic DNA were extracted using common phenolchloroform approach, and the 5' CpG islands methylation status of GSTP1 gene was studied by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP).
Results: GSTP1 gene promoter CpG island hyperthylation was detected in 88.5% (23/26) of cancerous tissues and in 69% (18/26) of corresponding non-cancerous tissues from the 26 HCC patients. None of the 11 control samples were methylation positive.
Conclusion: The data indicates that the detection of GSTP1 gene methyl-lation may be a valuable biomarker by MSP for HCC early diagnosis and disease monitoring.