A systematic review and quantitative assessment of methylation biomarkers in fecal DNA and colorectal cancer and its precursor, colorectal adenoma

Publication date: Available online 16 January 2019Source: Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation ResearchAuthor(s): Rongbin Liu, Xuan Su, Yakang Long, Dalei Zhou, Xiao Zhang, Zulu Ye, Jiangjun Ma, Tao Tang, Fang Wang, Caiyun HeAbstractColorectal cancer (CRC) arises from accumulated genetic and epigenetic alterations, which provide the possibility to identify tumor-specific biomarkers by analyzing fecal DNA. Methylation status in human genes from tumor tissue is highlighted as promising biomarker in the early detection of CRC. A number of studies have documented altered methylation levels in DNA extracted from stool samples, but generated heterogeneous results. We performed a systematic review and quantitative assessment of existing studies to compare levels of DNA methylation in most frequently studied genes and their diagnostic value in CRC and its precursor, colorectal adenoma, with their counterparts in healthy subjects. Robust searches of the literature were performed in our study with explicit strategies and definite inclusion/exclusion criteria. Pooled data revealed that methylation levels of SFRP2, SFRP1, TFPI2, BMP3, NDRG4, SPG20, and BMP3 plus NDRG4 genes exceeded a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 80% for CRC detection. The DOR of the seven candidate biomarkers ranged from 19.80 to 334.33, indicating a good diagnostic power in discriminating cancer from normal tissues. The AUC range was from 0.88 to 0.95, indicating a good or very good discriminatory performan...
Source: Mutation Research Reviews in Mutation Research - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research