Promoter methylation and silencing of PTEN in gastric carcinoma

The PTEN/MMAC1/TEP1 gene (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10/mutated in multiple advanced cancers/TGF-beta regulated and epithelial cell enriched phosphatase 1), which regulates the signaling pathways of Akt, is a novel tumor suppressor gene implicated in multiple cancers. Because a number of tumor suppressor genes are known to be silenced by aberrant promoter methylation, we examined the methylation status of the 5' CpG islands of PTEN using methylation-specific PCR. The altered expression of PTEN in 310 gastric carcinomas was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining using tissue-array and clinicopathologic profiles related to PTEN expression were characterized. Of 310 consecutive gastric carcinomas, 62 cases (20%) showed expression loss of PTEN. Altered PTEN expression was significantly associated with tumor depth and size, lymphatic invasion, advanced stage, pTNM stage, and patient survival (p < 0.001). The promoter methylation frequency of PTEN was found to be present in 26 (39%) of 66 cases examined, and 19 (73%) of 26 gastric cancer tissues showing promoter methylation exhibited the loss of PTEN expression. Abnormalities in the expression of PTEN significantly correlated with promoter methylation (p < 0.001). In conclusion, silencing of the PTEN gene occurs frequently in gastric carcinoma and aberrant promoter methylation is a major mechanism of silencing of the PTEN gene. The abnormalities of the PTEN gene are associated with tumor progression, metastasis, and survival.