Methylation of exon 2 of p16 is associated with late stage oesophageal cancer

Methylation of the p16 gene was studied in 16 oesophageal tumours. Five (31 %) of the tumours were found to be methylated in exon 1 and eight (50%) wer e methylated in exon 2. The loss of p16 protein correlated with methylation of exon 1 (P = 0.005). However, methylation of exon 2, but not exon 1, was found to be associated with late stage tumours (P = 0.01). We conclude tha t the methylation of exon 2 of p16 may have effects on the progression of o esophageal tumours that are independent of the expression of the p16 protei n. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.