A novel method for estimating MGMT methylation status by using immunohistochemistry

Research Project

Project/Area Number	16K20017
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Neurosurgery
Research Institution	Nagasaki University
Principal Investigator	UMENO Tetsuya 長崎大学, 病院(医学系), 医員 (00737273)
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Keywords	グリオーマ / MGMT / 悪性神経膠腫
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The DNA repair protein MGMT causes resistance of cancer cells to alkylating agents and therefore, is a well-established predictive marker for high grade gliomas. Since MGMT is highly epigenetically regulated, MGMT promoter methylation status is taken as an indicator of MGMT silencing, predicting the outcome of glioma therapy. MGMT promoter methylation is usually determined by pyrosequencing, which is too expensive to perform as general inspection. Here, we apply a new method, named histo endonuclease-linked detection of methylation sites of DNA(HELMET), designed to detect methylation sites of DNA with a specific sequences in a tissue section.