We concluded that the apoptotic pathways are largely preserved in prostate carcinogenesis, in particular the extrinsic pathway, with the exception of FAS and TMS1, which are epigenetically downregulated.
Epigenetic silencing of TMS1 has been observed in a significant proportion of human breast and other cancers, but the mechanism by which TMS1 silencing contributes to carcinogenesis is unknown.
Methylation of ASC/TMS1 appears to be a late-stage event in colorectal carcinogenesis associated with invasive carcinomas but not with normal colorectal tissue or colorectal adenomas.
The data suggest that methylation-mediated silencing of TMS1 confers a survival advantage by allowing cells to escape from apoptosis, supporting a new role for aberrant methylation in breast tumorigenesis.