Prognostic relevance of an epigenetic biomarker panel in sentinel lymph nodes from colon cancer patients
- PMID: 28878843
- PMCID: PMC5584052
- DOI: 10.1186/s13148-017-0397-4
Prognostic relevance of an epigenetic biomarker panel in sentinel lymph nodes from colon cancer patients
Abstract
Background: Patients with early colorectal cancer (stages I-II) generally have a good prognosis, but a subgroup of 15-20% experiences relapse and eventually die of disease. Occult metastases have been suggested as a marker for increased risk of recurrence in patients with node-negative disease. Using a previously identified, highly accurate epigenetic biomarker panel for early detection of colorectal tumors, we aimed at evaluating the prognostic value of occult metastases in sentinel lymph nodes of colon cancer patients.
Results: The biomarker panel was analyzed by quantitative methylation-specific PCR in primary tumors and 783 sentinel lymph nodes from 201 patients. The panel status in sentinel lymph nodes showed a strong association with lymph node stage (P = 8.2E-17). Compared with routine lymph node diagnostics, the biomarker panel had a sensitivity of 79% (31/39). Interestingly, among 162 patients with negative lymph nodes from routine diagnostics, 13 (8%) were positive for the biomarker panel. Colon cancer patients with high sentinel lymph node methylation had an inferior prognosis (5-year overall survival P = 3.0E-4; time to recurrence P = 3.1E-4), although not significant. The same trend was observed in multivariate analyses (P = 1.4E-1 and P = 6.7E-2, respectively). Occult sentinel lymph node metastases were not detected in early stage (I-II) colon cancer patients who experienced relapse.
Conclusions: Colon cancer patients with high sentinel lymph node methylation of the analyzed epigenetic biomarker panel had an inferior prognosis, although not significant in multivariate analyses. Occult metastases in TNM stage II patients that experienced relapse were not detected.
Keywords: Biomarkers; DNA methylation; Occult metastases; Prognosis; Relapse; Sentinel lymph nodes.
Conflict of interest statement
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Informed written consent was obtained from all patients, and the study was approved by the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REC 197.04). All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.
Consent for publication
Not applicable
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Figures




Similar articles
-
Prognostic relevance of occult metastases detected by cytokeratin 20 and mucin 2 mRNA levels in sentinel lymph nodes from colon cancer patients.Ann Surg Oncol. 2012 Nov;19(12):3719-26. doi: 10.1245/s10434-012-2454-8. Epub 2012 Jul 3. Ann Surg Oncol. 2012. PMID: 22752373
-
Lymph node CXCL17 messenger RNA: A new prognostic biomarker for colon cancer.Tumour Biol. 2018 Sep;40(9):1010428318799251. doi: 10.1177/1010428318799251. Tumour Biol. 2018. PMID: 30198422
-
Detection of occult metastases in sentinel lymph nodes from colon cancer patients by K-ras mutation peptide nucleic acid clamp PCR.Ann Surg. 2010 Jun;251(6):1087-91. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181dae1bc. Ann Surg. 2010. PMID: 20485143
-
[Sentinel lymph nodes in colorectal cancer].Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2007 Nov 1;127(21):2829-33. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2007. PMID: 17987075 Review. Norwegian.
-
Staging of women with breast cancer after introduction of sentinel node guided axillary dissection.Dan Med J. 2012 Jul;59(7):B4475. Dan Med J. 2012. PMID: 22759850 Review.
Cited by
-
Predictive factors for postoperative recurrence in early cervical cancer patients: a meta-analysis.Front Surg. 2025 Jun 19;12:1588558. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1588558. eCollection 2025. Front Surg. 2025. PMID: 40611924 Free PMC article.
-
Identifying Cancer Stage-Related Biomarkers for Lung Adenocarcinoma by Integrating Both Node and Edge Features.Genes (Basel). 2025 Feb 24;16(3):261. doi: 10.3390/genes16030261. Genes (Basel). 2025. PMID: 40149413 Free PMC article.
-
Colon cancer-specific diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers based on genome-wide abnormal DNA methylation.Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Nov 17;12(22):22626-22655. doi: 10.18632/aging.103874. Epub 2020 Nov 17. Aging (Albany NY). 2020. PMID: 33202377 Free PMC article.
-
Value of DNA methylation in predicting curve progression in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.EBioMedicine. 2018 Oct;36:489-496. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.09.014. Epub 2018 Sep 18. EBioMedicine. 2018. PMID: 30241917 Free PMC article.
References
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources