Diagnostic value of detection of aberrantly methylated RASSF1A in plasma of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

    ZHAO Qiangª²Zi£¬QI Zhiª²Fang,WEI Wanª²Li, LI Kaiª²Zong£¬DOU Keª²Feng

    1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China, PLA 210 Hospital£¬ Wuwei 733000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To study the aberrant methylation status of Ras association domain family 1A (RASSF1A) in the plasma of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by methylationª²specific PCR (MSP), and to explore the value of circular tumorª²related DNA in diagnosis of HCC. METHODS: Free DNA was extracted from peripheral blood plasma of 41 HCC patients. After modified with sodium bisulfite and purified, the DNA was amplified using primers specific for methylated and unmethylated sequences of RASSF1A. RESULTS: Aberrant RASSF1A methyª²lation was found in 41.5% (17 of 41) of plasma DNA in HCC patients. No methylated RASSF1A was detected in 10 cases of control plasma samples. Clinical data including age, sex, clinical stages, levels of AFP, hepatitis status, number of tumor, invasion, metastasis and cirrhosis showed no correlation with aberrant methylation of RASSF1A (P>0.05). Aberrantly methylated RASSF1A was also detected in 7 of 10 plasma samples of AFP negative cases. CONCLUSION: Detection of aberrant methylation of RASSF1A in blood is feasible to early detect and screen HCC, and is useful to estimate the prognosis. ......