Epigenetic analysis of BNC1, SCUBE3, SFRP1 and PCDH8 candidate tumor suppressor genes in renal cell carcinoma

Cancer is a disease arising from irregular and uncontrolled proliferation of abnormal cells found in a particular tissue and/or organ in the body. These cells form tumour when they come together. Cancer formation can be explained as accumulation of hereditary changes in the genetic structure of the cell. It is a process that results from environmental factors, genetics and epigenetics changes. Methylation is the foremost among the epigenetic changes. A great deal of studies emphasize that hypermethylation of some genes has influence on the formation of many cancer types. Different types of cancer can develop in kidneys. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer. It comprises 2-3% of all cancer types. The highest incidence is seen in developed countries.It is observed that the incidence of this disease is increased 2% in Europe and across the world. It is known that epigenetic changes, like promotor methylation, have an important role in kidney tumorigenesis by suppressing tumour suppressor genes. Some of the most significant prognostic methylation markers are BNC1, SCUBE3, SFRP1 and PCDH8. The purpose of this study is to determine the methylation situation in the promotor regions of these markers in RCC patients. In the study, the DNA in tumour tissues, which were embedded parafine, and adjacent normal tissues were isolated from 22 patients and bisulfide conversion was made in these samples, and then methylation-specific PCR method was applied. As a result, it is thought that the methylation of promotor region in candidate tumour suppressing genes BNC1, SCUBE3, SFRP1 and PCDH8 influences RCC pathogenesis. However, more studies that will be done with more samples and with different techniques are required to finalize these results.