DNA methylation of PITX2 predicts poor survival in men with prostate cancer

• Published in: Biomarkers in medicine Vol. 8; no. 9; p. 1143
• Main Authors: Vasiljević, Nataša, Ahmad, Amar S, Carter, Paul D, Fisher, Gabrielle, Berney, Daniel M, Foster, Christopher S, Cuzick, Jack, Lorincz, Attila T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01-10-2014
• Subjects: Adult; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Disease-Free Survival; DNA Methylation; DNA, Neoplasm - metabolism; Follow-Up Studies; Homeobox Protein PITX2; Homeodomain Proteins - metabolism; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Proteins - metabolism; Prostatic Neoplasms - metabolism; Prostatic Neoplasms - mortality; Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology; Survival Rate; Transcription Factors - metabolism; DNA methylation; prognostic biomarker; prostate cancer; PITX2
• ISSN: 1752-0371
• DOI: 10.2217/BMM.14.41

We investigated if methylation of candidate genes can be useful for predicting prostate cancer (PCa) specific death.
Methylation of PITX2, WNT5a, SPARC, EPB41L3 and TPM4 was investigated in a 1:2 case-control cohort comprising 45 men with cancer of Gleason score ≤ 7 who died (cases), and 90 men who were alive or died of other causes with survival time longer than the cases (controls). A univariate conditional logistic regression model was fitted by maximizing the likelihood of DNA methylation of each gene versus the primary end point.
A 10% increase in methylation of PITX2 was associated with PCa related death with OR 1.56 (95% CI: 1.17-2.08; p = 0.005).
Our study strengthens prior findings that PITX2 methylation is useful as a biomarker of poor outcome of PCa and in addition we also suggest that it may be particularly useful in men with low Gleason score.