We detected the significant association between reduced DNA methylation of ADAM23 in PTs and presence of CTCs in the peripheral blood of patients (OR = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.23-0.90; P = 0.023).
The ADAM23 gene is frequently silenced in different types of tumors, and, in breast tumors, silencing is correlated with tumor progression, suggesting that it might be associated with the acquisition of a metastatic phenotype.
In the oropharynx, there was a statistically significant association between hypermethylation of the DAPK1 gene and the occurrence of lymph node metastases, and in the larynx there was statistically significant evidence of an association between hypermethylation of the ADAM23 gene and advanced stages of the tumors.
Methylation of this CpG island was observed both in GC cell lines and in primary GC tissues; in primary tumors with a hypermethylated CpG island, expression of ADAM23 was lower than in adjacent noncancerous tissues.