Detection of methylation damage in DNA of gastric cancer tissues using P-32-postlabelling assay

Abstract

Gastric cancer is the most common cancer in Korea. The causes are still unknown but it has been speculated that gastric cancer is associated with consumption of foods rich in nitrates/nitrites or a high dietary intake of salt or pickled food. In the present study, we studied the level of alkylated DNA adducts formed in gastric cancer tissues in comparison with that in normal gastric mucosa. DNA was extracted from surgically removed gastric cancer tissues and patient-matched normal gastric mucosa. The level of N-7-methyldeoxyguanosine was measured by P-32-postlabelling assay after high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) enrichment. We found that the level of N-7-methyldeoxyguanosine of gastric cancerous tissues was significantly higher than that of normal gastric mucosa (P=0.01685).