The novel tumor suppressor RASSF1A is frequently inactivated during human tumorigenesis by promoter methylation. In this study, we detected the RASSF1A promoter methylation by methylated-specific PCR and investigated RASSF1A gene expression by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemical staining in 36 cases of breast cancer and their adjacent normal tissues in Chinese women. The promoter methylation of the RASSF1A gene was found to be a frequent event in the breast cancers (61.1%). RASSF1A methylation was not found in the matched adjacent normal tissues. The loss frequency of RASSF1A mRNA was 33.3% and that of the RASSF1A protein was 44.4% in breast cancers. RASSF1A mRNA and protein were all expressed in adjacent normal tissues. The mRNA and protein expression level of RASSF1A was significantly lower in breast cancer than in adjacent normal tissue. However, the promoter methylation of the RASSF1A gene in breast cancers were not correlated with clinical parameters, such as ages, histological types, TNM stages and lymph node metastases. Thus, the promoter methylation of RASSF1A was one reason for the low level of RASSF1A mRNA and protein expression and was a frequent event in primary sporadic breast tumorigenesis in Chinese women.

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