Evaluation of novel metastasis-related genes and development of an early diagnostic marker in head and neck cancer

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

MAL(Myelin and Lymphocyte protein) family of preoteolipids including MAL, MAL2 and BENE are implicated to be potent regulator of apical protein transport and cell polarization in epithelial cells. In this study, we evaluated expression of MAL2 and BENE genes in matched primary and metastatic tumors of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma(HNSCC). We also analyzed loss of heterogeneity(LOH) status of MAL2 and BENE gene. As a result, down-regulation of MAL mRNA expression was remarkable in metastatic HNSCC tumors and it was significantly related with LOH in metastatic HNSCC. Furthermore, we evaluated role of circulating hypermethylated MAL gene as a diagnostic marker in HNSCC. We found hypermethylation of MAL promoter in five out of eight(62%) plasma samples from HNSCC patients. Therefore, detection of hypermethylation of MAL promoter in plasma may be a promising diagnostic marker for HNSCC.