Methylation-mediated silencing of genes is not altered by selenium treatment of prostate cancer cells.

Kavitha Ramachandran, Loida Navarro, Edna Gordian, Partha Manas Das, Rakesh Singal

Miami VA Medical Center, Miami, Florida 33125, USA.

Anticancer research 2007 Mar-Apr

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The role of selenium in reducing the risk of multiple cancers has been described in the literature. Although reports have described the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic function of selenium by up-regulation of genes in these pathways, information is lacking on the target mechanisms of selenium on specific genes. This study examines whether selenium treatment alters the methylation status of epigenetically silenced genes in prostate cancer cells. Methylation of glutathione sulfotransferase pi (GSTP1) and Ras associated family 1A (RASSF1A) genes was studied using methylation sensitive PCR (MS-PCR). Gene expression was studied using Reverse Transcriptase PCR and Western Blotting. Treatment of prostate cancer cells with selenium did not alter the expression of genes that were silenced by DNA methylation. Furthermore, the methylation status of these genes remained unaltered after treatment with seleno-DL-methionine.

Citation

Kavitha Ramachandran, Loida Navarro, Edna Gordian, Partha Manas Das, Rakesh Singal. Methylation-mediated silencing of genes is not altered by selenium treatment of prostate cancer cells. Anticancer research. 2007 Mar-Apr;27(2):921-5