Figure 1.

Methylation of e-cadherin in bladder neoplasms. A–C: MSP analysis of methylation at the CpG island flanking the transcriptional start site of the e-cadherin gene. After bisulfite modification, each sample is amplified using primers specific for methylated (M) and unmethylated (U) sequences. A: The results of seven bladder neoplasms with methylation. B: The results of seven bladder neoplasms without methylation. C: The results of six normal control bladder samples. The MDA-MB231 breast cancer cell line was used as a positive control for a methylated gene. D: The bisulfite sequencing of clones of the e-cadherin promoter from two of the bladder cancers with methylation detected by MSP and from a normal unmethylated bladder e-cadherin gene. Arrows designate positions of cytosines in the sequence that, when unmethylated, are converted to thymidines by bisulfite.