Tumor-specific methylation in bronchial lavage for the early detection of non-small-cell lung cancer.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify tumor-specific methylation in bronchial lavage for the early detection of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by differentiating the age-related methylation from the tumor-specific methylation in NSCLC.

Patients And Methods: Eighty-five NSCLC patients and 127 cancer-free subjects participated in this study. Aberrant methylation at the promoters of the p16, Ras association domain family 1A (RASSF1A), fragile histidine triad (FHIT), H-cadherin, and retinoic acid receptor beta (RARbeta) genes were evaluated in the resected tumor tissues and bronchial lavage samples of NSCLC patients and in the bronchial lavage samples of cancer-free subjects by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction.