Methylation pattern of E-cadherin gene as epigenetic biomarker in lung cancer patients

Abstract

Silencing of tumor suppressor and tumor-related genes by hypermethylation at promoter CpG islands is one of the major events in human tumorigenesis. In this study the methylation pattern of E-cadherin gene was studied in 25 lung cancer patients which included active, passive as well as subjects who had left smoking. The results signify that the methylation pattern can be designated as epigenetic biomarker in lung cancer patients where the diagnosis is not well defined in the early stages of tumorigenesis.