U. G. Sathyanarayana

The adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene is a tumor suppressor gene associated with both familial and sporadic cancer. Despite high rates of allelic loss in lung and breast cancers, point mutations of the APC gene are infrequent in these cancer types. Aberrant methylation of the APC promoter 1A occurs in some colorectal and gastric malignancies, and we investigated whether the same mechanism occurs in lung and breast cancers. The methylation status of the APC gene promoter 1A was analyzed in 77 breast, 50 small cell (SCLC), and 106 non-small cell (NSCLC) lung cancer tumors and cell lines and in 68 nonmalignant tissues by methylation-specific PCR. Expression of the APC promoter 1A transcript was examined in a subset of cell lines by reverse transcription-PCR, and loss of heterozygosity at the gene locus was analyzed by the use of 12 microsatellite and polymorphic markers. Statistical tests were two-sided. Promoter 1A was methylated in 34 of 77 breast cancer tumors and cell lines (44%), in 56 of 106 NSCLC tumors and cell lines (53%), in 13 of 50 SCLC cell lines (26%), and in 3 of 68 nonmalignant samples (4%). Most cell lines tested contained the unmethylated or methylated form exclusively. In 27 cell lines tested, there was complete concordance between promoter methylation and silencing of its transcript. Demethylation with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine treatment restored transcript 1A expression in all eight methylated cell lines tested. Loss of heterozygosity at the APC locus was observed in 85% of SCLCs, 83% of NSCLCs, and 63% of breast cancer cell lines. The frequency of methylation in breast cancers increased with tumor stage and size. In summary, aberrant methylation of the 1A promoter of the APC gene and loss of its specific transcript is frequently present in breast and NSCLC cancers and cell lines and, to a lesser extent, in SCLC cell lines. Our findings may be of biological and clinical importance.

PURPOSE: Death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) is a pro-apoptotic serine/threonine kinase involved in apoptosis. Aberrant methylation of DAPK was reported in lung cancers by methylation-specific PCR. However, we were unable to relate methylation with gene silencing with the same methodology. Our goals were to develop a methodology that related methylation with gene silencing and use it to study the state of the gene in lung cancers. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND RESULTS: Using a semiquantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR, DAPK expression was lower in lung cancers than in corresponding nonmalignant bronchial epithelial cells in five of six primary short-term cultures. In continuous cell lines, mRNA expression was down-regulated, as well as compared with nonmalignant bronchial epithelial cells, and its protein was not detected by Western blotting in 17 of 23 (74%) cell lines. We investigated methylation status of 5' flanking region of DAPK by combined bisulfite restriction analysis and bisulfited DNA sequencing. Aberrant methylation was detected in 21 of 48 (44%) cell lines, 2 of 6 primary cultured tumors, and 14 of 38 (37%) primary lung cancers, although varying degrees of methylation were noticed. Furthermore, bisufite sequence data suggested that aberrant methylation might occur selectively at some CpG dinucleotides in cell lines which had absent expression. Treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine restored DAPK expression in heavily methylated cell lines tested, and histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A alone restored DAPK expression in some methylated cell lines as well. CONCLUSIONS: Our major findings are: (a) DAPK expression is frequently down-regulated in lung cancers; (b) aberrant methylation of DAPK is frequent in lung cancers, although considerable heterogeneity of methylation is present, and some specific CpG dinucleotides are often methylated in expression negative lung cancers; and (c) besides methylation and histone deacetylation, there may be other mechanisms for down-regulation of DAPK expression.

SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine) is an extracellular Ca2+-binding matricellular glycoprotein associated with the regulation of cell adhesion and growth. We investigated loss of expression of SPARC gene and promoter methylation in lung cancers and correlated the data with clinicopathological features. We observed loss of SPARC expression in 12 of 20 (60%) lung cancer cell lines. Treatment of expression-negative cell lines with a demethylating agent restored expression in all cases. Methylation frequencies of SPARC gene were 55% in 20 lung cancer cell lines. Primary tumours had methylation at a rate of 69% (119 of 173), while nonmalignant lung tissues (n=60) had very low rates (3%). In lung adenocarcinomas, SPARC methylation correlated with a negative prognosis (P=0.0021; relative risk 4.65, 95% confidence interval 1.75-12.35, multivariate Cox's proportional-hazard model). Immunostaining revealed protein expression in bronchial epithelium (weak intensity) and in juxtatumoral stromal tissues (strong intensity) accompanied by frequent loss in cancer cells that correlated with the presence of methylation (P<0.001). Our findings are of biological interest and potentially of clinical importance in human lung cancers.