Aberrant methylation of the CpG island of HLTF gene in gastric cardia adenocarcinoma and dysplasia.

To investigate the promoter methylation of HLTF in the tissues and plasma of patients with gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) and dysplasia. Nested MSP approach was used to detect HLTF methylation status. The frequency of HLTF methylation in high grade dysplasia and GCA tumor tissues was significantly higher than that in chronic inflammation tissues and was significantly associated with upper gastrointestinal cancers (UGIC) family history and protein and mRNA expression of the gene. HLTF methylation was not found in the plasma of patients with chronic inflammation and low grade dysplasia, while 4.0% (1/25) of patients with high grade dysplasia and 20.8% of (20/96) GCA patients were detected with hypermethylation of HLTF in the plasma. In all, HLTF methylation may exist in gastric cardia dysplasia stages and may play important role in the development of GCA especially in individuals with UGIC family history.