Promoter hypermethylation and up-regulation of thyroid-stimulating-hormone- alpha (TSH-α) in thyroid cancer

Kyung Hee Han, Keun Su Son, Jun Euy Hong, Sun Jung Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Thyroid-stimulating-hormone-alpha (TSH-α) is the common subunit of the heterodimeric hormone TSH and also of other glycoprotein hormones. Although both expression and promoter-methylation profiles of the gene have been observed in the pituitary gland and placenta, no observation has been reported in the thyroid gland. We examined TSH-α expression in normal and cancer thyroid tissues. Keal-time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry indicated that TSH-α was repressed in normal tissues while activated in cancer tissues. To identify the epigenetic mechanism of upregulation of TSH-α, the methylation status of the seven CpG sites in the TSH-α promoter was examined in sixty thyroid cancer tissues. Two CpG sites showed remarkably higher levels of methylation in cancer (46 and 45%) than in normal tissues (24 and 23%) (p=0.010 and 0.003). These findings indicate that TSH-α is expressed in the thyroid cancer tissue per se and that its expression can be affected by promoter methylation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)341-347
Number of pages7
JournalGenes and Genomics
Volume31
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2009

Keywords

  • CpG islands
  • Epigenetics
  • Methylation
  • Thyroid cancer
  • Thyroid-stimulating hormone

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