TGFBI promoter hypermethylation correlating with paclitaxel chemoresistance in ovarian cancer

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine the methylation status of Transforming growth factor-beta-inducible gene-h3 (TGFBI) and its correlation with paclitaxel chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. The methylation status of TGFBI was examined in ovarian cancer and control groups by methylation-specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP). The TGFBI expression and cell viability were compared by Quantitative Real-Time PCR, Western Blotting and MTT assay before and after demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dc) treatment in 6 cell lines (SKOV3, SKOV3/TR, SKOV3/DDP, A2780, 2780/TR, OVCAR8). In our results, TGFBI methylation was detected in 29/40 (72.5%) of ovarian cancer and 1/10 (10%) of benign ovarian tumors. No methylation was detected in normal ovarian tissues (P P P P > 0.05), which showed that re-expression of TGFBI could reverse paclitaxel chemoresistance. Our results show that TGFBI is frequently methylated and associated with paclitaxel-resistance in ovarian cancer. TGFBI might be a potential therapeutic target for the enhancement of responses to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients.

Keywords

• Ovarian cancer
• transforming growth factor-beta-inducible gene-h3
• methylation
• chemoresistance
• paclitaxel