Epigenetic inactivation of selected genes for growth, invasivity and metastasis regulation in breast cancers diagnosis

Project leader: Ivana Fridrichová
Project duration: 2010 - 2012

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women that represents 28.9% of all cases. It is driven by progressive genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. The latter involve DNA hyper- and hypomethylation, and altered modifications of histones that result in chromatin remodelling. Many authors suggest that DNA methylation measurement of the specific gene promoters have a potential to improve an early detection of cancer, and also prediction of prognosis and therapy response. In this project we will introduce and verify the quantitative multiplex methylation-specific PCR for ESR1, PGR, RASSF1A, SOCS1, SYK, CDH1 and TIMP3 genes for growth, invasivity and metastasis regulation in relevant cell lines. To investigate the relation between DNA methylation level and the breast cancer aggressivity degree, we will use our method in analyses of paraffin block samples. Evaluation of DNA methylation in serum of suspected patients can help to identify effective epigenetic markers for early diagnosis.

More   Publications