Preoperative measurement of methylated DAPK and APC promoter DNA in peripheral blood may contribute to better estimate postoperative survival chances of patients with esophageal carcinoma, especially adenocarcinoma.
In conclusion, promoter hypermethylation of the APC gene is related to a lower number of metastatic lymph nodes and to superior prognosis in terms of recurrence, which suggests it might be involved in the process of lymph node metastasis in esophageal cancer.
Frequently reported genome alterations were: the +3q27 and +8q24 mutations of TP53 for esophageal cancer; +20q13 for gastric cancer; -18q22 and +20q12-q13 mutations of APC, TP53 and KRAS for colorectal cancer, and the -18q22 mutation of KRAS and TP53 for pancreatic cancer.