Detection of Promoter Hypermethylation of RASSF1A and Clinical Significance in Cervix Carcinoma

Objective To observe the methylation status of RASSF1A tumor suppressor gene promoter in human cervical carcinoma and its clinical significance and its relationship with HPVs infection.Methods Methylation-specific PCR(MSP) assay was used to analyze the methylation status of promoter of RASSF1A gene in 39 cervical carcinoma and 12 normal cervical tissues.HPV-16、18 type in cervical carcinoma was examined by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) technique. Results Hypermethylation of RASSF1A was observed in 28.2%(11/39) of 39 cervical cancer cases. None of the normal cervical tissues was methylated. HPV16、18 type DNA was assessed in 69.2% of the cervical carcinoma. RASSF1A hypermethylation was also positively related with lymph node metastasis(P 0.05).However, there was no evidence to demonstrate the relationship between RASSF1A hypermethylation and the patient′s age, sizes of tumors, histological grade, stage and HPV infection(P 0.05).Conclusion Epigenetic change due to 5′-CpG island methylation is the main cause of inactivation of RASSF1A gene which may be involved in cervical carcinoma pathogenesis and progress.