Identification of novel DNA-methylated genes that correlate with human prostate cancer and high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) harbors a myriad of genomic and epigenetic defects. Cytosine methylation of CpG-rich promoter DNA is an important mechanism of epigenetic gene inactivation in PCa. There is considerable amount of data to suggest that DNA methylation-based biomarkers may be useful for the early detection and diagnosis of PCa.