Hypermethylation of Corticotropin Releasing Hormone Receptor-2 Gene in Ulcerative Colitis Associated Colorectal Cancer

BACKGROUND/AIM: The difficulty of early diagnosis of colitis associated colorectal cancer (CACRC) due to colonic mucosal changes in long-standing ulcerative colitis (UC) patients is often experienced in daily clinical practice. Noninvasive objective monitoring for cancer development is advantageous for optimizing treatment strategies in UC patients. We aimed to examine the epigenetic alterations occurring in CACRC, focusing on DNA hypermethylation of CpG islands. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The level of DNA methylation in CpG cites was compared between CACRC and the counterpart non-tumorous mucosa using Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip. RESULTS: Our subjects included 3 males and 3 females (median age, 49.5 years). The 450K CpG site DNA methylation microarray revealed that the difference in beta value (level of hypermethylation) was the highest for corcicotropin releasing hormone receptor 2 (CRHR2) between CACRC and counterpart non-tumorous mucosa. CONCLUSION: Detection of hypermethylation of CRHR2 may be promising for cancer screening in UC patients.