CDKN2A (p14ARF/p16INK4a) and ATM promoter methylation in patients with impalpable breast lesions

• DOI: 10.1016/j.humpath.2015.06.016
• Publication Date: 2015-07-04T14:17:37Z
• Authors: Lucas Delmonico; Aline dos Santos ...; Marco Felipe Franco; Eliane Barbosa Es...; Luciano Scherrer; Claúdia Vitória d...; Cristina Moreira ...; Maria Helena Fari...; Carolina Maria de...; Gilda Alves
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; 0301 basic medicine; Adolescent; Genes, p16; Breast Neoplasms; Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; DNA Methylation; Middle Aged; Polymerase Chain Reaction; 3. Good health; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Biomarkers, Tumor; Humans; Female; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Early Detection of Cancer; Aged

Early detection of breast cancer increases the chances of cure, but the reliable identification of impalpable lesions is still a challenge. In spite of the advances in breast cancer detection, the molecular basis of impalpable lesions and the corresponding circulating biomarkers are not well understood. Impalpable lesions, classified by radiologists according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System in the categories 3 and 4, can be either benign or malignant (slow growing or aggressive). In this article, we report the DNA methylation pattern in CDKN2A (p14(ARF)/p16(INK4a)) and in ATM gene promoters from 62 impalpable lesions, 39 peripheral blood samples, and 39 saliva samples, assessed by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction method. ATM showed the greatest percentage of methylation in DNA from lesions (benign and malignant), blood (even with p16(INK4a)), and saliva, followed by p16(INK4a) and p14(ARF). Among the malignant cases, ATM promoter was the most hypermethylated in lesion DNA and in blood and saliva DNAs, and p14(ARF), the least. The highest percentage of p16(INK4a) methylation was found in the blood. Finally, our data are relevant because they were obtained using impalpable breast lesions from patients who were carefully recruited in 2 public hospitals of Rio de Janeiro.