Epigenetic changes modify genes in ways that do not change the DNA sequence but changes their level of gene expression. CpG islands regulate the expression of nearby genes; however, transcriptional complexes involved in gene expression can be repelled or attracted by methyl groups modified through epigenetics. Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Endocervical Adenocarcinoma (CESC) has a 5.4 times higher mortality among African American than among white women. We investigated two issues: 1) differential methylation in normal versus cancerous tissues, and 2) differences in gene expression. By way of MethHC and statistical analysis the two genes examined and found most prominent in CESC were Spleen Focus Forming Virus Proviral Integration Oncogene (SPI1) and Cap-Gly domain containing linker protein 3 (CLIP3). SPI1 functions as a proto-oncogene and CLIP3 as a tumor suppressor gene that plays a role in apoptosis. Ranging from 0-1, 0 being hypomethylated and 1 being hypermethylated, normal tissues in SPI1 ranged from .84-.90 and cancer tissues from .55-.94. Normal tissues in CLIP3 had methylation around .09 and cancer tissues ranged from .05-.95. Differences in methylation yielded altered gene expression for CLIP3. The results for SPI1 were not significant because methylation differences did not correlate to differences in gene expression.
