DAPK promotor hypermethylation correlates with reduced Fas/FasL-induced apoptosis in colorectal cancer

Introduction: The death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) gene is a promoting regulator of programmed cell death and is frequently inactivated by promotor methylation in many tumor entities. Aim: To determine the role of DAPK inactivation and its association with apoptosis in colorectal carcinogenesis. Methods: We investigated fresh-frozen specimens obtained from 103 patients with primary colorectal carcinomas of advanced stage and microdissected samples of 22 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded Dukes'-A carcinomas showing normal colon mucosa, adenoma and carcinoma tissue on the same slice. Aberrant promotor met…