Aberrant Promoter Hypermethylation of RASSF Family Members in Merkel Cell Carcinoma

Overview

Journal Cancers (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Oncology

Date 2013 Nov 21

PMID 24252868

Citations 15

Authors

Antje M Richter

Tanja Haag

Sara Walesch

Peter Herrmann-Trost

Wolfgang C Marsch

Heinz Kutzner

Peter Helmbold

Reinhard H Dammann

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is one of the most aggressive cancers of the skin. RASSFs are a family of tumor suppressors that are frequently inactivated by promoter hypermethylation in various cancers. We studied CpG island promoter hypermethylation in MCC of RASSF2, RASSF5A, RASSF5C and RASSF10 by combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) in MCC samples and control tissue. We found RASSF2 to be methylated in three out of 43 (7%), RASSF5A in 17 out of 39 (44%, but also 43% in normal tissue), RASSF5C in two out of 26 (8%) and RASSF10 in 19 out of 84 (23%) of the cancer samples. No correlation between the methylation status of the analyzed RASSFs or between RASSF methylation and MCC characteristics (primary versus metastatic, Merkel cell polyoma virus infection, age, sex) was found. Our results show that RASSF2, RASSF5C and RASSF10 are aberrantly hypermethylated in MCC to a varying degree and this might contribute to Merkel cell carcinogenesis.

Citing Articles

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RASSF10 is frequently epigenetically inactivated in kidney cancer and its knockout promotes neoplasia in cancer prone mice.

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