The PTEN protein is a negative regulator of the Akt pathway, leading to suppression of apoptosis and increased cell survival. Its role as a tumor-suppressor gene has been adequately substantiated, and homozygous mutations have been demonstrated in familial and sporadic cancers. In breast cancers, expression of PTEN protein is lost/reduced in 38% of cases. Somatic mutations are, however, rarely found. Our study was therefore designed to determine if differential methylation of the PTEN promoter region has a role in the transcriptional inactivation of the gene in invasive breast carcinomas.
PTEN (MMAC1/TEP1) is a tumor-suppressor gene located on chromosomal subband 10q23.3. 1 It has been implicated in a number of familial and sporadic cancers. 2 Germline mutations have been reported in Cowden syndrome and Bannayan-Zonana syndrome, 2 dominantly inherited conditions causing predisposition to a variety of cancers including breast cancer. 3-5 Homozygous somatic mutations have also been recorded in a high percentage of human tumors, common among which are glioblastoma multiforme 6 -8 and endometrial cancer. 9 -11 Genetic, functional and animal modeling studies have substantiated the tumor-suppressor function of PTEN. The gene encodes a PIP3 phosphatase and regulates negatively the PIP3-Akt pathway, leading to suppression of apoptosis and increased cell survival. [12][13][14][15] PTEN is involved in breast cancers. We have previously demonstrated that expression of PTEN protein is lost/reduced in 38% of invasive breast cancers, a feature that is seen with highest frequency in high-grade carcinomas. 16 Although breast cancers also show 38% LOH at the PTEN locus, 17 somatic mutations have rarely been documented. [17][18][19] Thus, the events leading to loss of protein expression remain unclear. The discrepancy noted in the high incidence of LOH and/or protein loss and low mutation rates points to the possibility of epigenetic mechanisms in the inactivation of PTEN.The importance of epigenetic changes in human cancers is only now being recognized. Of primary interest is aberrant promoter hypermethylation that leads to inappropriate gene silencing. Hypermethylation of a growing number of genes (Rb, p16 INK4a , VHL, E-cadherin, APC and BRCA1, to name a few) occurs in promoter CpG islands in tumor cells and is being revealed as one of the most frequent mechanisms of loss of gene function. 20,21 Epigenetic changes are believed to occur at a higher frequency than genetic changes. The PTEN promoter region has been isolated, 22 and preliminary studies have identified methylation as a mechanism for PTEN inactivation in lung carcinomas. 23 Our study was therefore designed to determine if epigenetic regulation by differential methylation has a role in the transcriptional inactivation of the PTEN gene in invasive breast carcinomas. Normal breast tissue was also tested for methylation of the PTEN promoter and its relationship, if any, to aging.
MATERIAL AND METHODSArchived tissue blocks from surgical specimens of 50 patients with in...