A study of the methylation status of opioid binding protein/cell adhesion molecule-like gene in ovarian cancer using nested methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction detection.

Background: The goal was to improve the methylation-specific PCR (MSP) method and investigate the methylation status of the OPCML gene in carcinoma tissues from ovarian cancer patients.

Methods: MSP and nested MSP methods were used to examine the methylation status of the OPCML gene promoter in ovarian cancer, borderline tumor, and normal ovary tissues.

Results: Methylation of the OPCML gene was detected in 58.3% (14/24) and 83.3% (20/24) of the specimens from ovarian cancer patients using MSP and nested MSP methods, respectively. No methylation was observed in normal ovarian tissues using either method.

Conclusions: The modified nested MSP method showed better sensitivity. The methylation of the OPCML gene was significantly higher in ovarian cancer than in normal tissue. The detection of OPCML gene methylation could serve as one of the molecular markers for the diagnosis of ovarian cancer.