This study demonstrates that methylation of the collagen alpha2(I) gene transcription start site occurs frequently in human cancer cell lines (9 of 10), including breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and Hs578T), hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (SNU387, SNU449, SNU398, and PLC/PRF/5), a fibrosarcoma cell line (HT1080), and colorectal carcinoma cell lines (HCT116, SW480, and SW620).
These results thus provide the first evidence that perlecan may inhibit the growth and invasiveness of fibrosarcoma cells in a basic fibroblast growth factor-independent pathway and raise the possibility that perlecan may prevent the infiltration of host tissues in mesenchymal neoplasms.