Renal clear cell carcinoma is a type of kidney cancer, known for being diagnosed mostly accidentally because of its largely asymptomatic nature. Detection in later stages contributes to worse treatment outcomes for patients. The currently available diagnostic tools for this cancer include biopsies and medical imaging, methods that are either invasive or lacking in their prognostic capabilities. Our current research focuses on potential non-invasive biomarkers that could provide diagnostic and prognostic information about the disease.
DNA methylation, a naturally occurring process, one of many corrupted as cancer develops, has been explored as a biomarker in our laboratory before by using Agilent Human DNA Methylation 1 × 244K Microarrays. Our current work seeks to look at the methylation of selected genes’ regulatory sequences in urine sediments of patients and asymptomatic controls using quantitative methylation-specific PCR.
The results have been analyzed using t-test and ROC curve analysis methods. Methylation levels at the regulatory regions of all selected genes were found to be significantly higher in urine sediments of renal clear cell carcinoma patients, compared to asymptomatic controls. All of them also had significant diagnostic potential, and one was distinguished as a potential prognostic biomarker with a significantly higher methylation level in the case of a higher tumor stage.
All in all, our investigation of methylated DNA sequences as non-invasive biomarkers for renal clear cell carcinoma showed significant diagnostic and prognostic potential.