Association of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-7 promoter methylation with esophageal cancer in peripheral blood

Background The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling pathway has an important role in many cancers, including esophageal cancer (EC). IGF-binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) is one of the proteins in this signaling pathway, and its role in cancer has not yet been fully clarified. In the present study, we evaluated the clinical relevance of IGFBP7 methylation status and mRNA expression in EC patients compared to healthy controls. We also investigated whether IGFBP7 methylation status affects mRNA expression. Methods The study comprised 100 EC patients and 105 healthy controls. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) was used to examine IGFBP7's promoter methylation and real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to assess IGFBP7 mRNA expression. Results The IGFBP7 promoter methylation was significantly higher in controls than in EC patients (p