Identification of novel metastases-suppressor genes involved in lung cancer brain metastases formation.

Initial screening for potential metastases suppressors down regulated by methylation was performed using lung cancer cell line models specific for site-specific metastasation. Gene expression profiling and qRT-PCR validations were conducted on tumor tissues from primary lung cancer (LC) and brain metastasis. HERC5 was further characterized for the methylation pattern. Three human lung cancer cell lines H1993, H1395 and were compared to the (SV40)-transformed human bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B in order to find genes, which might be specifically involved in brain metastasis formation. The cell lines were treated with 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine in order to find genes potentially down regulated by methylation. The non-tumorigenic cell line BEAS-2B was used to control for stress response after the treatment with 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine.