Involvement of CELSR3 hypermethylation in primary oral squamous cell carcinoma

• Main Authors: Abraham, T.M (Author), Froemming, G.R.A (Author), Khor, G.H (Author), Lin, T.K (Author), Zain, R.B (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Asian Pacific Organization for Cancer Prevention 2016
• Subjects: Biomarker; Biomarkers, Tumor; cadherin; Cadherins; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; cell surface receptor; CELSR3; Celsr3 protein, human; DNA; DNA methylation; DNA Methylation; DNA, Neoplasm; female; Female; gene expression regulation; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; genetics; human; Humans; Hypermethylation; male; Male; middle aged; Middle Aged; Mouth Neoplasms; mouth tumor; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; promoter region; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Receptors, Cell Surface; squamous cell carcinoma; tumor marker
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus

 Background: Promoter hypermethylation is a frequent epigenetic mechanism for gene transcription repression in cancer and is one of the hallmarks of the disease. Cadherin EGF LAG seven-pass G-type receptor 3 (CELSR3) contributes to cell contact-mediated communication. Dysregulation of promoter methylation has been reported in various cancers. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate the CELSR3 hypermethylation level in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) using methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting analysis (MS-HRM) and to correlate CELSR3 methylation with patient demographic and clinicopathological parameters. Materials and Methods: Frozen tissue samples of healthy subjects' normal mucosa and OSCCs were examined with regard to their methylation levels of the CELSR3 gene using MS-HRM. Results: MS-HRM analysis revealed a high methylation level of CELSR3 in 86% of OSCC cases. Significant correlations were found between CELSR3 quantitative methylation levels with patient ethnicity (P=0.005), age (P=0.024) and pathological stages (P=0.004). A moderate positive correlation between CELSR3 and patient age was also evident (R=0.444, P=0.001). Conclusions: CELSR3 promoter hypermethylation may be an important mechanism involved in oral carcinogenesis. It may thus be used as a biomarker in OSCC prognostication.