Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc
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Ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is the fourth leading cause of cancer death and is usually diagnosed late. Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms are an increasingly recognized precursor to invasive ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Identifying the alterations in DNA methylation that arise during intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm development may facilitate the development of markers that could be used to differentiate intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms from non-neoplastic pancreatic cystic lesions. ⋯ Thus, aberrant DNA methylation increases with histologic grades of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm. Low-level aberrant methylation in the normal ductal cells is more prevalent in patients with ductal neoplasia than in controls without ductal neoplasms and may contribute to carcinogenesis. The detection of aberrant methylation in pancreatic cystic lesions could facilitate the diagnosis of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms.