Hypermethylation of the DPYD promoter region is not a major predictor of severe toxicity in 5-fluorouracil based chemotherapy

Amstutz, Ursula; Farese, Simone; Aebi, Stefan; Largiadèr, Carlo R (2008). Hypermethylation of the DPYD promoter region is not a major predictor of severe toxicity in 5-fluorouracil based chemotherapy. Clinical cancer research, 27(1), p. 54. Philadelphia, Pa.: American Association for Cancer Research 10.1186/1756-9966-27-54

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BACKGROUND: The activity of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), the key enzyme of pyrimidine catabolism, is thought to be an important determinant for the occurrence of severe toxic reactions to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), which is one of the most commonly prescribed chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of solid cancers. Genetic variation in the DPD gene (DPYD) has been proposed as a main factor for variation in DPD activity in the population. However, only a small proportion of severe toxicities in 5-FU based chemotherapy can be explained with such rare deleterious DPYD mutations resulting in severe enzyme deficiencies. Recently, hypermethylation of the DPYD promoter region has been proposed as an alternative mechanism for DPD deficiency and thus as a major cause of severe 5-FU toxicity. METHODS: Here, the prognostic significance of this epigenetic marker with respect to severe 5-FU toxicity was assessed in 27 cancer patients receiving 5-FU based chemotherapy, including 17 patients experiencing severe toxic side effects following drug administration, none of which were carriers of a known deleterious DPYD mutation, and ten control patients. The methylation status of the DPYD promoter region in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was evaluated by analysing for each patient between 19 and 30 different clones of a PCR-amplified 209 base pair fragment of the bisulfite-modified DPYD promoter region. The fragments were sequenced to detect bisulfite-induced, methylation-dependent sequence differences. RESULTS: No evidence of DPYD promoter methylation was observed in any of the investigated patient samples, whereas in a control experiment, as little as 10% methylated genomic DNA could be detected. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that DYPD promoter hypermethylation is not of major importance as a prognostic factor for severe toxicity in 5-FU based chemotherapy.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Haematology, Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Laboratory Medicine and Hospital Pharmacy (DOLS) > Institute of Clinical Chemistry 04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Haematology, Oncology, Infectious Diseases, Laboratory Medicine and Hospital Pharmacy (DOLS) > Clinic of Medical Oncology
UniBE Contributor:	Amstutz, Ursula, Farese, Simone Anna, Aebi, Stefan, Largiadèr, Carlo Rodolfo
ISSN:	1078-0432
ISBN:	18937829
Publisher:	American Association for Cancer Research
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 15:02
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:19
Publisher DOI:	10.1186/1756-9966-27-54
PubMed ID:	18937829
Web of Science ID:	000263483100001
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/27085 (FactScience: 102182)