Study of promoter methylation pattern of 14-3-3 sigma gene in normal and cancerous tissue of breast: A potential biomarker for detection of breast cancer in patients

BACKGROUND: In recent years, DNA methylation as a main epigenetic modification in human cancer is found as a promising biomarker in early detection of breast cancer. Possible applications of numerous hypermethylated genes have been reported in diagnosis of breast cancer but there has been a little comprehensive study on the clinical usefulness of these genes in breast cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate the promoter methylation status of 14-3-3 sigma gene with the goal of developing a diagnostic application in breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally 40 cases of cancerous and noncancerous tissues were studied. DNA was extracted from tissue samples, and promoter methylation pattern was determined by using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Methylation pattern of 14-3-3 sigma promoter significantly differed between control and malignant breast tissues (P = 0.001), and there was no remarkable correlation between methylation and age (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The relationship of promoter methylation of 14-3-3 sigma with development of breast cancer found in this study and confirmed the results of previous reports suggests that we can provide the foundation for possible application of 14-3-3 sigma as a potential biomarker for early detection and monitoring disease status.