[Methylation and aberrant expression of the p16 gene in cervical carcinoma]

To detect hypermethylation and aberrant expression of the p16 gene in cervical carcinoma (CC), methylation-specific PCR (MSP) was used to determine the methylation status of 5'CpG islands of the p16 gene, loss or decrease of p16 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and homozygous deletion of exon 1 (E(1)) and/or exon 2 (E(2)) was determined by PCR. in 60 cases of CC at different pathological grades and clinical stages. The results showed absence of methylation and presence of normal expression of the p16 gene in the control and adjacent tissues of CC. Hypermethylation, loss or decrease of expression and deletion of the p16 gene were detected in 21.67%(13/60), 51.67%(31/60) and 15.00%(9/60) of the tumor tissues, respectively. The rate of p16 expression markedly reduced with the increase of clinical stages. Our data suggested that inactivation of the p16 gene was a frequent event and positively correlated with pathological grades in CC, and that methylation of the p16 gene was an important event in carcinogenesis of CC.