Epigenetic modification of as a novel biomarker for the prognosis of early stage head and neck cancer.

This study examined ( methylation profiles in head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients at diagnosis and follow-up, and evaluated their prognostic significance and value as a biomarker. expression was examined in a panel of cell lines by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Promoter methylation was determined by quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (qMSP) and was compared to the clinical characteristics of 205 samples. promoter methylation was associated with transcriptional inhibition and was correlated with disease recurrence in 31.7% of cases, with an odds ratio of 1.694 (95% confidence interval: 1.093-2.626; P = 0.018) by multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. promoter hypermethylation showed highly discriminatory receiver operator characteristic curve profiles that clearly distinguished HNSCC from adjacent normal mucosal tissue, and was correlated with reduced disease-free survival in early stage T1 and T2 patients (log-rank test, P < 0.001). methylation was significantly correlated with the methylation status of both and . This study suggests that CpG hypermethylation is a likely mechanism of gene inactivation, supporting the hypothesis that might play a role in HNSCC tumorigenesis and could serve as an important biomarker.