NPTX2 hypermethylation in pure pancreatic juice predicts pancreatic neoplasms.

Abstract

The neuronal pentraxin II (NPTX2) gene is methylated in over 90% primary pancreatic cancer tissues but rarely in normal pancreatic ductal epithelia. Here, the authors investigated the utility of methylated NPTX2 as a diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer in pure pancreatic juice samples of patients with benign and malignant pancreatic diseases, including pancreatic cancer, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm or chronic pancreatitis using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) and quantitative MSP. MSP assays revealed that the incidence of aberrant NPTX methylation in pure pancreatic juice samples was 64.5% (20 of 31) in patients with pancreatic cancer, 70.0% (7 of 10) in patients with malignant intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm, 33.3% (2 of 6) in patients with benign intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm and 21.7% (5 of 23) in patients with chronic pancreatitis. NPTX2 hypermethylation in patients with chronic pancreatitis was significantly lower than that of pancreatic cancer (P < 0.01) or patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (P < 0.05). At a cutoff value of 1.39 for quantitative MSP, the incidence of aberrant NPTX2 methylation was 61.3% (19 of 31) in patients with pancreatic cancer, 50.0% (5 of 10) in patients with malignant intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm, 0% in patients with benign intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm and 8.7% (2 of 23) in patients with chronic pancreatitis. There was a significant difference in NPTX2 methylation between pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis (P < 0.01). Our findings indicate that detection of aberrant methylation of NPTX2 in pure pancreatic juice samples could be useful as a molecular marker to discriminate between patients with malignant and benign disease of the pancreas.

• Authors: Fan Yao, Mingjun Sun, Ming Dong, Feng Jing, Bo Chen, Huimian Xu, Shubao Wang
• Journal: The American journal of the medical sciences (Am J Med Sci) Vol. 346 Issue 3 Pg. 175-80 (Sep 2013) ISSN: 1538-2990 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 23360791 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Nerve Tissue Proteins
• neuronal pentraxin
• C-Reactive Protein

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Biomarkers, Tumor (genetics)
• C-Reactive Protein (genetics)
• DNA Methylation
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Nerve Tissue Proteins (genetics)
• Pancreatic Diseases (diagnosis, genetics)
• Pancreatic Juice (metabolism)
• Promoter Regions, Genetic
• Young Adult