Analysis of aberrant methylation of p16 gene promoter in tissue from gastric cancer patients

Objective To observe the aberrant methylation of p16 gene promoter in gastric cancer patients and analyse the relationship between the aberrant methylation of p16 gene and clinical manifestation.Methods The methylation status of p16 gene in gastric cancer specimens,the corresponding normal gastric mucosa was detected by methylation specific polymerase chain reaction.Results The frequency of aberrant methylation of p16 gene in gastric cancer specimens was significantly higher than that in the corresponding normal gastric mucosa(P0.01).Aberrant methylation of p16 gene was not significantly correlated with the age,gender,tumor size,the stage of pathology,differentiation degree,invasion depth and the involvement of lymph node of gastric cancer.Conclusions Aberrant methylation of the promoter region of p16 gene is a common and specifical event in occurrence and progression of gastric cancer,which may be used as biomarker for the diagnosis of gastric cancer.