TGFbetaR2 aberrant methylation is a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in multiple myeloma

Int J Cancer. 2009 Oct 15;125(8):1985-91. doi: 10.1002/ijc.24431.

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy. Different studies demonstrated the occurrence of genetic and epigenetic alterations in MM. The aberrant methylation is one of the most frequent epigenetic alterations in human genome. This study evaluated the aberrant methylation status of 20 genes in 51 MM samples by quantitative methylation-specific PCR (QMSP) and compared the methylation profile with clinicopathological characteristics of the patients. The QMSP analyses showed that PTGS2 (100.0%), SFN (100.0%), CDKN2B (90.2%), CDH1 (88.2%), ESR1 (72.5%), HIC1 (70.5%), CCND2 (62.7%), DCC (45.1%) and TGFbetaR2 (39.2%) are frequently hypermethylated in MM while aberrant methylation of RARbeta (16.6%), MGMT (12.5%), AIM1 (12.5%), CDKN2A (8.3%), SOCS1 (8.3%), CCNA1 (8.3%) and THBS1 (4.1%) are rare events. There was no methylation of GSTP1, MINT31, p14ARF and RB1 in the samples tested. Hypermethylation of ESR1 was correlated positively with isotype IgA, while aberrant methylation of THBS1 correlated negatively with isotype IgG. Furthermore, hypermethylation of DCC and TGFbetaR2 were correlated with poor survival. The multivariate analysis showed ISS and TGFbetaR2 hypermethylation strongly correlated with poor outcome. This study represents the first quantitative evaluation of promoter methylation in MM and our data provide evidence that TGFbetaR2 hypermethylation, besides ISS, may be useful as prognostic indicator in this disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • DNA Methylation*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multiple Myeloma / genetics*
  • Multiple Myeloma / therapy*
  • Neoplasm Proteins / genetics*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Prognosis
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic / genetics*
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics*
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II
  • Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta / genetics*
  • Survival Rate

Substances

  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • Receptor, Transforming Growth Factor-beta Type II