Scientific publications

Methylation status of Wnt signaling pathway genes affects the clinical outcome of Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Scientific Publication

Sep 1, 2008 | Magazine: Cancer Science

Martin V, Agirre X, Jiménez-Velasco A, José-Eneriz ES, Cordeu L, Gárate L, Vilas-Zornoza A, Castillejo JA, Heiniger A, Prósper F, Torres A, Roman-Gomez J.


The clinical significance of aberrant promoter methylation of the canonical Wnt pathway antagonist genes (sFRP1, sFRP2, sFRP4, sFRP5, Wif1, Dkk3, and Hdpr1) and also putative tumor-suppressor gene Wnt5a, belonging to the non-canonical Wnt signaling pathway, was investigated in a large series of 75 patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction.

At least one methylated gene was observed in cells from 66% (49/75) of patients (methylated group). Disease-free survival and overall survival at 9 years were 51 and 40%, respectively, for the unmethylated group and 3 and 2%, respectively, for the methylated group (both P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the Wnt methylation profile was an independent prognostic factor predicting disease-free survival (P = 0.007) and overall survival (P = 0.039).

Abnormal DNA methylation of promoter-associated CpG islands in the Wnt signaling pathway is very common in Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia and potentially defines subgroups with distinct clinical characteristics.

CITATION Cancer Sci. 2008 Sep;99(9):1865-8

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