Clinical Utility of RASSF1A Gene Methylation Assayed By Methylation Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction In Ovarian Cancer Patients

Abstract

varian cancer is the leading cause of gynaecologic cancer deaths among females and the poor survival rate of OC patients is due to the non-specific symptoms and the lack of sensitive and specific methods for the detection of early-stage OC. Despite using CA125 as a current screening measure combined with transvaginal ultrasound, mortality rates remain high. It is well known that both genetic and epigenetic events play a role in the development of OC. Methylation is the main epigenetic event in humans and plays an important role in tumorigenesis. DNA methylation occurs on the cytosine residues of cytosine guanine dinucleotides (CG dinucleotides), also designated as (cytosine phosphodinucleotides guanine) CpG. Enzymes known as DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) catalyse the addition of a methyl group to the cytosine ring to form methyl cytosine. The Ras association domain family (RASSF) genes comprises 10 members. They are tumor suppressor genes (TSG) that encode for Ras family effector proteins. The RASSF1 gene locus is located on chromosome 3p21.3 and consists of eight exons spanning 􀀀 11 kb. From this, seven different transcripts are generated (RASSF1A-G) through the use of differential promoters and alternative splicing.