RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation of tumor suppressor genes carried out by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), are important events in carcinogenesis. Although there are studies concerning to its expression in several cancer types, DNMTs expression pattern is not known in photoinduced lip carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the immunoexpression of DNMTs 1, 3a, and 3b in lip precancerous lesion (actinic cheilitis) and cancer. METHODS: Thirty cases of actinic cheilitis (AC), thirty cases of lip squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), and twenty cases of non-neoplastic tissue (NNT) were selected for immunohistochemical investigation of DNMTs 1, 3a, and 3b. RESULTS: Nuclear DNMT 1 immunoreactivity was significantly higher in the LSCC group (68.6%) compared with NNT (47%), and nuclear DNMT 3b was higher in LSCC (70.9%) than in NNT (37.9%) and in AC (44%). Only DNMT 3a showed both higher nuclear and cytoplasmic expression in AC (35.9% and 35.5%, respectively) than in NNT (4.4% and 16.1%, respectively) and LSCC (8.8% and 13.2%, respectively) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that DNMT 3a could play a key role in the methylation process of initial steps of UV carcinogenesis present in AC while DNMT 3b could be responsible for de novo methylation in already established lip cancer.