Analysis of TP53 and Promoter hypermethylation of MGMT in lung cancer

Lung cancer was considered to be rare in the beginning of the century but has now reached almost epidemic proportions, being the leader killer in developed countries and is also rising in developing countries. Lung cancer shows a great variation in the prevalence in different geographical regions, probably because of different origins of mutagens or mechanisms of action of different mutagens and/or different ethnicity of different populations. It has always been the interest of scientific community to identify and characterize the molecular alterations and associated risk factors associated with the lung carcinogenesis in different geographic regions of the world. Kashmir Valley being the northern most part of the India, with a different geography and unique culture from rest of the country, lacks the data regarding the molecular biology of lung cancer. Since lung cancer incidence is rising in the Valley, being second most common cancer in this region with the capital district of Srinagar having the highest district-wise age adjusted incidence in males in the country. With this background we tried to study the molecular alterations of TP53 and promoter methylation of MGMT.