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Unmethylated E‐Cadherin gene expression is significantly associated with metastatic human prostate cancer cells in bone
Author(s) -
Saha Baisakhi,
Kaur Pavinder,
TsaoWei Denice,
Naritoku Wesley Y.,
Groshen Susan,
Datar Ram H.,
Jones Lawrence W.,
Imam S. Ashraf
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the prostate
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.295
H-Index - 123
eISSN - 1097-0045
pISSN - 0270-4137
DOI - 10.1002/pros.20836
Subject(s) - prostate cancer , prostate , dna methylation , cancer research , pca3 , methylation , cadherin , epigenetics , cancer , pathology , gene expression , regulation of gene expression , medicine , biology , gene , cell , genetics
BACKGROUND The concurrent determination of methylation status of E‐cadherin gene and E‐cadherin protein expression remains scant in metastatic prostate cancer cells in bone, the most prevalent site for metastatic growth. Therefore, the study was undertaken to ascertain the methylation status of E‐cadherin gene, a most frequent and known epigenetic mechanism of its regulation, and the protein expression in prostate tissue biopsy specimen. METHODS The methylation of E‐cadherin gene was determined by methylation specific‐PCR and the protein expression by immunohistochemical method in the consecutive sections of each prostate tissue biopsy specimen. RESULTS The unmethylated E‐cadherin gene and homogeneous E‐cadherin protein expression was significantly associated with BPH as compared to the primary prostate carcinoma (Fisher's Exact P < 0.001). A significant association was observed between the concurrent methylated gene and markedly reduced expression of the protein in the primary prostate cancer cells as compared to the BPH cells, suggesting methylation‐dependent regulation of the gene expression in these cases. In contrast to the primary cancer, a highly significant increase in the frequency of metastatic prostate cancer cells in bone exhibited the concurrent expression of unmethylated gene and homogeneous protein (Fisher's Exact P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The study clearly demonstrated a significant association of the concurrent expression of unmethylated E‐cadherin gene and E‐cadherin protein with metastatic prostate cancer cells in bone, and that its expression may have a role in the intercellular adhesion in the formation of metastatic lesions in bone. Prostate 68: 1681–1688, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.