SFRP2 Promoter Methylation Analysis in Tumor Tissue, Stool, and Plasma DNA of Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Noninvasive method for early detection of human cancers is promising way to provide more quality health service to the population. The serum and stool of colorectal cancer patients often harbor increased free DNA levels, which can potentially be used for cancer detection. Because SFRP2 (secreted frizzled related protein 2) is considered a Wnt inhibitor whose CpGs were frequently hypermethylated in several human cancers, we investigated the frequency of aberrant SFRP2 promoter methylation in primary tumors and serum or stool samples of colorectal cancer patients by MS-PCR. We detected methylation of SFRP2 in 111 of 117 (94.9%) paraffin-embedded colorectal cancer tissues. Fifty-nine of the 68 (86.8%) available serum samples from these cases carried detectable amounts of the methylated SFRP2 promoter. Sixty-one of 68 (89.7%) available stool samples from the same cases carried positive methylation in the promoter region of SFRP2 gene. In contrast, no methylated SFRP2 promoter DNA was detected in serum and stool samples from 60 healthy controls. Only 2 cases of 68 healthy controls showed methylated SFRP2 promoter DNA in their colorectal tissue. But high frequency of methylated SFRP2 gene promoter has no correlation with the clinic-pathologic features. We concluded that SFRP2 methylation analysis appeared to be a noninvasive tumor marker in serum and/or stool DNA