肺癌患者组织样品中p16基因的异常甲基化

目的 分析肺癌患者组织样品中p16基因启动子区域异常甲基化的改变情况,评价该指标作为辅助临床诊断的分子标记物的价值。方法 运用甲基化特异性PCR技术,检测51例原发性肺癌患者的肿瘤组织、外周血血浆和痰标本中p16基因启动子区域的异常甲基化改变。结果 在43例肿瘤组织、36例血浆和39例痰标本中检测到了p16基因异常甲基化。凡在肿瘤组织检出p16基因甲基化阳性的病例,其血浆和(或)痰标本也为阳性;而肿瘤组织p16基因甲基化阴性的病例,其血浆和痰标本也为阴性。将血浆和痰标本的p16甲基化分析与痰细胞学检查相结合,可以发现92．2％的肺癌病例。结论 利用半巢式甲基化特异性PCR进行的血浆和痰标本p16基因甲基化分析,有可能成为辅助肺癌诊断的分子生物学指标。

Hypermethylation of p16 gene in clinical specimens of patients with lung cancer

Objective To evaluate aberrant methylation of the p16 promoter as a useful biomarker of lung cancer. Methods A modified methylation-specific semi-nested PCR was performed to detect p16 hypermethylation in the matched samples of tumor tissue, blood plasma and sputum derived from 51 cases of lung cancer patients. Results Hypermethylation of p16 promoter was demonstrated in 84.3% of the tumor tissues, 70.6% of the blood plasma and 76.5% of the sputum specimens, respectively. Only the patients whose tumor tissues had p16 hypermethylation exhibited aberrant methylation in their plasma and/or sputum specimens. Combining with cytological examination, 92.2% of the patients with lung cancer could be detected by p16 hypermethylation assay in both sputum and plasma samples. Conclusion The results indicate that p16 hypermethylation in plasma and sputum identified by semi-nested PCR is a biomarker of lung cancer which can be useful as an auxillary diagnostic parameter.