The degree of global DNA hypomethylation in peripheral blood correlates with that in matched tumor tissues in several neoplasia

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 3; p. e92599
• Main Authors: Barciszewska, Anna-Maria, Nowak, Stanisław, Naskręt-Barciszewska, Mirosława Z
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 20-03-2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: 5-Methylcytosine - blood; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Biomarkers, Tumor; Blood; Brain; Brain cancer; Brain Neoplasms - blood; Brain Neoplasms - genetics; Brain tumors; Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer research; Chromatography; Colon; Colon cancer; Colorectal cancer; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Development and progression; Diagnosis; DNA; DNA Methylation; Epigenesis, Genetic; Epigenetic inheritance; Epigenetics; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Male; Malignancy; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Neoplasia; Neoplasms; Neoplasms - blood; Neoplasms - genetics; Patients; Peripheral blood; Physical Sciences; Prognosis; Pyrimidines; Quality; Thin layer chromatography; Tissues; Tumors; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092599

There are no good blood and serum biomarkers for detection, follow up, or prognosis of brain tumors. However, they are needed for more detailed tumor classification, better prognosis estimation and selection of an efficient therapeutic strategy. The aim of this study was to use the epigenetic changes in DNA of peripheral blood samples as a molecular marker to diagnose brain tumors as well as other diseases. We have applied a very precise thin-layer chromatography (TLC) analysis of the global amount of 5-methylcytosine (m(5)C) in DNA from brain tumors, colon and breast cancer tissues and peripheral blood samples of the same patients. The m(5)C level in tissue DNA from different brain tumor types, expressed as R coefficient, changes within the range of 0.2-1.6 and overlaps with R of that of blood samples. It negatively correlates with the WHO malignancy grade. The global DNA hypomethylation quantitative measure in blood, demonstrates a big potential for development of non-invasive applications for detection of a low and a high grade brain tumors. We have also used this approach to analyze patients with breast and colon cancers. In all these cases the m(5)C amount in DNA cancer tissue match with data of blood. This study is the first to demonstrate the potential role of global m(5)C content in blood DNA for early detection of brain tumors and others diseases. So, genomic DNA hypomethylation is a promising marker for prognosis of various neoplasms as well as other pathologies.