Relationship Between the CpG Island Methylation of TFAP2E and Chemotherapy in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between the CpG island methylation of TFAP2E and the diagnosis of patients with esophageal cancer based on fluorouracil chemotherapy. METHODS The 101 cases of esophageal carcinoma tissues and 50 normal tissues were collected. The methylation rate was detected by fluorescence quantitative methylation specific PCR. The efficacy of fluorouracil-based chemotherapy was evaluated in 55 patients with advanced stage (IV). And to analyze the relationship between the methylation status of TFAP2E gene CpG island and clinicopathological data and chemotherapy efficacy. RESULTS The TFAP2E methylation occurred at a significantly higher incidence rate in tumor tissues compared to adjacent nontumor tissues(P<0.05). Hypermethylation of TFAP2E occurred more frequently in tumors with lower differentiation grades and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). The chemotherapy effect of hypermethylated TFAP2E patients was significantly lower than that of hypomethylated patients (OR=2.89, 95% CI:1.57-5.37; P<0.05). CONCLUSION The CpG island methylation of TFAP2E is associated with fluorouracil based chemotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer and may be an effective biomarker for predicting chemotherapy.