GSTP1 Methylation as a Liquid Biopsy Biomarker: Systematic Review Across Cancer Types
This review synthesises the evidence for GSTP1 promoter methylation as a diagnostic biomarker in liquid biopsy specimens across multiple malignancies, with particular emphasis on prostate cancer. While GSTP1 methylation shows high specificity in blood and urine samples, sensitivity remains limited, favouring its use in multi-marker panels rather than as a standalone test. Despite promising results, the assay has not yet entered routine clinical practice, and the authors call for large prospective validation studies.
The original study
GSTP1 methylation in cancer: a liquid biopsy biomarker?
- Authors
- Gurioli G, Martignano F, Salvi S, Costantini M, Gunelli R, Casadio V
- Journal
- Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine
- Type
- Journal Article, Review
- PMID
- 29305565
Original abstract
The coding region of GSTP1 gene is preceded by a large CpG-rich region that is frequently affected by methylation. In many cancer types, GSTP1 is affected by hypermethylation and, as a consequence, it has a low expression. The aim of this review is to give an overview on GSTP1 methylation studies with a special focus on liquid biopsy, thus to summarize methods, results, sample types, different diseases, to have a complete information regarding this promising epigenetic biomarker. We used all the most valuable scientific search engines (PubMed, Medline, Scopus and Web of Science) searching the following keywords: GSTP1, methylation, cancer, urine, serum, plasma and blood. GSTP1 is a largely investigated tissue biomarker in several malignancies such as prostate, breast, lung and hepatocellular carcinoma with good performances especially for diagnostic purposes. As a liquid biopsy biomarker, it has been mainly investigated in prostate cancer (PCa) where it showed a high specificity but a low sensitivity; thus, it is recommended in combination with other biomarkers. Despite the large number of published papers and the promising results, GSTP1 has not yet entered the clinical practice even for PCa diagnosis. For this reason, further large and prospective studies are needed to validate this assay.