DNA methylation in neuroblastic tumors

Banelli, Barbara; Vinci, Angela Di; Gelvi, Ilaria; Casciano, Ida; Allemanni, Giorgio; Bonassi, Stefano; Romani, Massimo

doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2005.02.049

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Volume 228, Issue 1 , Pages 37-41, 18 October 2005

DNA methylation in neuroblastic tumors

Barbara Banelli
- Laboratory of Tumor Genetics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro—IST Genova, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy
Angela Di Vinci
- Laboratory of Tumor Genetics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro—IST Genova, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy
Ilaria Gelvi
- Laboratory of Tumor Genetics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro—IST Genova, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy
Ida Casciano
- Laboratory of Tumor Genetics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro—IST Genova, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy
Giorgio Allemanni
- Laboratory of Tumor Genetics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro—IST Genova, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy
Stefano Bonassi
- Laboratory of Environmental Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro—IST Genova, Genova, Italy
Massimo Romani
- Laboratory of Tumor Genetics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro—IST Genova, Largo Rosanna Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy
- Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +39 010 57 37 501.

Received 11 January 2005; accepted 5 February 2005.

Abstract

Epigenetic modifications and particularly the methylation of cytosines 5′ of guanine residues (CpGs) in gene promoter regions is an essential regulatory mechanism for normal cell development. DNA methylation can inactivate tumor suppressor genes by inducing C>T transitions in somatic and germline cells and by altering gene transcription. On the other hand, hypomethylation of specific sequences may reactivate the expression of potential oncogenes. Thus, aberrant hyper- and hypomethylation are considered crucial steps leading to cancer development. Until recently, differently from most adult tumors, only limited information was available on the methylation aberrations in neuroblastoma. In the last 2 years, however, this situation has drastically changed and many information has been gained on the relevance of methylation in this tumor. In this review, we summarize the latest findings on the role of methylation in neuroblastoma and in particular to its clinical significance.

Keywords: Methylation, Epigenetics, Prognostic factors