Hypermethylation of the neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) gene promoter is not a common event in the inactivation of the NF1 gene in NF1-specific tumours

Abstract.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common autosomal dominant disorder characterised by café-au-lait spots, neurofibromas and iris hamartomas. Since the NF1 gene product neurofibromin contains a GAP-related domain involved in the down-regulation of p21^ras oncogene activity, the NF1 gene has come to be regarded as a tumour-suppressor gene. One common mechanism of tumour-suppressor gene inactivation during tumorigenesis is promoter hypermethylation, this "epi-mutation" being functionally equivalent to a second-hit somatic mutation. To assess the importance of promoter hypermethylation in NF1 gene inactivation in NF1-related tumours, the methylation status of the NF1 promoter region was determined by bisulphite-modified genomic sequencing in NF1-specific tumours and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from both NF1 patients and normal controls. Tumour-specific CpG methylation of six distinct CpG sites was identified at positions –609, –429, –406, –383, –331 and –315 relative to the transcriptional start site. However, since all other CpG sites were unmethylated in all tissues examined, it is unlikely that CpG hypermethylation within the NF1 promoter represents a common mutational mechanism leading to neurofibroma formation.