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Description

Methylation of cytosines located 5' to guanosine is known to have a profound effect on the expression of several eukaryotic genes (Bird, 1992 ). In normal cells, methylation occurs predominantly in CG-poor regions, while CG-rich areas, called CpG islands, remain unmethylated. Aberrant methylation of normally unmethylated CpG islands has been documented as a relatively frequent event in immortalized and transformed cells (Antequera, 1990) and has been associated with transcriptional inactivation of defined tumor suppressor genes in human cancers (Merlo, 1995). Aberrant methylation of H19-IGF2 locus is implicated in several inherited genetic disorders. Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) is a new technology for sensitive detection of abnormal gene methylation utilizing small amounts of DNA (Herman, 1996 ). This process employs an initial bisulfite reaction to modify the DNA, followed by PCR amplification with specific primers designed to distinguish methylated from unmethylated DNA.