Abstract
In small cell lung cancer (SCLC), hypermethylation of the tumour suppressor Ras association
domain family 1A (RASSF1A) is frequent. It is associated with SV40 polyomaviral infection in other tumours.
Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) infection has been reported in Merkel cell carcinoma
(MCC), a neuroendocrine carcinoma with biological similarity to SCLC. In our study,
we investigated polyomavirus infection (SV40 and MCPyV) and promoter hypermethylation
of the tumour suppressors RASSF1A and p16 in 18 SCLCs (14 primaries and 4 regional lymph node metastases) and 18 blood control
samples. MCPyV was found in 39% (7 of 18) of the tumour tissues but not observed in
controls. SV40 was not observed in the tumour tissue. RASSF1A promoter hypermethylation (94%; 17 of 18) was more frequent compared to p16 methylation (56%, 10 of 18). We found no significant correlation between RASSF1A or p16 promoter hypermethylation and infection with the investigated polyoma viruses. Our
results show a high frequency of hypermethylation of the RASSF1A promoter and occurrence of MCPyV infection in the tumour tissue of SCLC. These events
may contribute to the pathogenesis of SCLC.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 27, 2009
Accepted:
April 30,
2009
Received in revised form:
April 23,
2009
Received:
December 15,
2008
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
