Evaluation of P38 gene expression and promoter methylation of this gene in tumor and marginal samples of patients with larynx cancer

Abstract

Laryngeal cancer is one of the most common cancers with a high mortality rate. p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases are a class of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) that respond to stress stimuli such as cytokines, UV radiation, heat shock, and osmotic shock, and are involved in cell differentiation, apoptosis, and autophagy. Accordingly, increased expression of p38 has been observed in various tumors and cancer cell lines. In this study, the level of expression of this gene and its methylation in patients with laryngeal cancer and their relationship with the variables of age, smoking, family history, stage and metastasis have been investigated. Methods: In this research, 50 tumor tissue samples and 50 tumor margin samples from laryngeal cancer patients were examined. After extracting RNA (using Trizol) from tissues, cDNA synthesis was performed and it was used to evaluate changes in p38 gene expression by Real Time PCR. Also, DNA was extracted from tissue samples and the methylation pattern of p38 promoter regions was investigated using bisulfite treatment. Statistical analysis was performed to investigate the changes in p38 gene expression and methylation and their effects on the clinical characteristics of patients, and pvalue<0.05 was considered as a significant level. Results: The obtained results have determined that there is a significant relationship between the level of p38 gene expression in cancerous tissue and healthy tissue, so that the expression of p38 gene in laryngeal cancer tissues is higher than in tumor peripheral tissues. Also, methylation in laryngeal cancer tissues is clearly lower than healthy tissues.