Abstract
Context: Aberrant hypermethylation of promoter region of tumor suppressor genes could be used as cancer biomarkers.
Objective: To test methylation status of ZAR1 and SFRP4 promoter regions as potentials biomarkers for diagnosis of preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions of cervix.
Materials and methods: Cytobrush samples were evaluated by Methylation specific PCR (MSP) and quantitative MSP (qMSP).
Results: ZAR1 and SFRP4 methylation frequency increased as the grade of lesion increased and the differences between normal and cervical cancer (CC) are statistically significant (p < 0.0001). qMSP showed higher ZAR1 and SFRP4 methylation levels in cancer than normal epithelia (p < 0.001) and preneoplastics lesions (p < 0.01).
Discussion: qMSP quantify methylation levels and have high sensitivity and specificity.
Conclusion: ZAR1 and SFRP4 qMSP could be used as potential biomarker for CC diagnosis.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the invaluable help of Claudia Díaz and Irene Riquelme who recruited patient and collected samples for this study in the Ginecology outpatient service.