Expression of Runx3 Gene and Its Methylation in Gastric Carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression and methylation status of Runx3 gene in gastric cancer.Methods The expression of Runx3 gene in 42 gastric carcinoma specimens,the adjacent nontumorous tissues and metastatic lymph nodes were detected by RT-PCR technique.Meanwhile,methylation-specific PCR was used to detect methylation status of Runx3 gene.Results The expression of Runx3 gene mRNA detected in gastric carcinoma 0.569±0.131 and metastatic lymph nodes 0.609±0.141 were significantly lower than that in adjacent nontumorous tissues (0.871±0.237,P0.05).Aberrant methylation of Runx3 was detected in 71.4% of gastric cancer specimens,62.5% of metastatic lymph nodes,which showed no significant differences(P0.05),and no methylation of Runx3 gene was found in the adjacent nontumorous tissues.Runx3 methylation was significantly correlated with the differentiation degree,but not with the gender or tumor size and invasion depth of gastric cancer.Conclusions Aberrant methylation of Runx3 gene is a common event in the occurrence and progression of gastric cancer,which may provide useful information for the early diagnosis and therapy.