Methylation and Immunoexpression of<i>p16^INK4a</i>Tumor Suppressor Gene in Primary Breast Cancer Tissue and Their Quantitative<i>p16^INK4a</i>Hypermethylation in Plasma by Real-Time PCR

Abstract

High p16 immunoreactivity correlated with a loss of differentiation in breast carcinomas and high frequency of p16(INK4a) promoter methylation in both invasive and intraductal carcinomas, suggesting it may be involved in the pathogenesis of breast cancer.