Aim: Identification of aberrant hypermethylation in promoter regions of candidate genes to discover potential biomarkers for colorectal cancer. Materials & Methods: Genes BMP2, IRF4, KCNA1, LRRC7, NRG3, SLC27A6 and UNC5D were pre-selected in a bioinformatics study for their hypermethylation status in colorectal cancer. Methylation analysis was performed on 202 cancer tissue specimens to validate candidate genes. Results: Genes KCNA1 and UNC5D displayed methylation in 95.3 and 99.7% of The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset samples and in 96 and 98% of our experimentally tested samples, respectively. Conclusion:KCNA1 and UNC5D promoter hypermethylation holds diagnostic biomarker potential in patients with early colorectal cancer.
Keywords: CpG islands; DNA methylation; KCNA1; UNC5D; biomarkers; colorectal cancer; high-resolution melting analysis; hypermethylation.