assessment of hypermethylation of rassf1a and protocadherin-10 tumor suppressor genes in breast cancer females: a six-year disease-free survival case-control study

Background: this study intends to determine the diagnostic and prognostic roles of hypermethylationof serum rassf1a and protocadherin-10 promoters in females with breast cancer.methods: this study enrolled 80 breast cancer patients and 80 apparently normalhealthy controls. the promoter methylation status of serum rassf1a and pcdh10genes was investigated using methylation specific pcr.results: we detected no hypermethylation of the two genes in serum dna of normalhealthy controls (100% specificity). of the 80 patients, 50 (62.5% sensitivity) displayedhypermethylated rassf1a, whereas 34 (42.5% sensitivity) showed hypermethylatedpcdh10 and 64 (80% sensitivity) were hypermethylated in at least one of these twogenes. a significant association existed between hypermethylated rassf1a andaxillary lymph node involvement. there was a significant association between hypermethylatedpcdh10 and axillary lymph node involvement, tumor size and pathologicalgrade. hypermethylated rassf1a and pcdh10 combination was significantlyassociated with axillary lymph node involvement and her-2 expression. patients withmethylated rassf1a or pcdh10 had significantly shorter survival rates comparedto those with unmethylated rassf1a or pcdh10.conclusion:methylated rassf1a is superior to methylated pcdh10 for diagnosisof breast cancer patients. addition of methylated pcdh10 to methylated rassf1asignificantly improves the diagnostic accuracy of rassf1a. the present studysuggests that hypermethylated rassf1a and pcdh10 may be independentprognostic indicators for disease-free survival in breast cancer patients.