Inactivation of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase in soft tissue sarcomas: association with K-ras mutations

The DNA-repair protein O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase removes alkyl adducts from the O6-position of guanine. The adducts can mispair with T during DNA replication, resulting in a G-to-A mutation. Epigenetic inactivation of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase has been found in human neoplasia and is considered one of the implicated factors in chemoresistance. Sixty-two patients with soft tissue sarcomas were analyzed with regard to the status of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase protein expression status using immunohistochemistry and promoter hypermethylation of the MGMT gene using methylation-specific PCR. G-to-A transitions in codons 12 and 13 of the K-ras oncogene were investigated using PCR and direct automated sequencing analysis. A loss of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase expression was noted in 20 (32.3%) cases of 62 total soft tissue sarcomas. The MGMT promoter hypermethylation rate was 33.9% (21/62 cases). Of the 54 sarcomas evaluated, K-ras mutations were found in only 2 (3.7%) cases. Loss of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase expression and MGMT promoter hypermethylation showed a significant association with high American Joint Committee on Cancer stage, high French Federation of Cancer Centers grade, and aggressive behavior. On multivariate analysis, these were not an independently significant prognostic factors. However, when the group receiving chemotherapy was analyzed (n = 27), loss of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase expression was correlated with worse survival on multivariate analysis (P = .024). MGMT promoter hypermethylation status had a strong correlation with loss of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase expression (P = .000). Our results suggest that MGMT promoter hypermethylation and loss of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase expression tend to be associated with poor prognosis and that the loss of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase protein expression frequently occurs via MGMT promoter hypermethylation. However, MGMT promoter hypermethylation was not significantly associated with point mutations of K-ras at codons 12 and 13 in sarcomas.