Objective      To investigate the methylation of human Sox10 gene promoter by bioinformatics and exprimental vertification.       Methods      Human Sox10 gene sequence was obtained from GenBank. CpG island methylation in human Sox10 gene promoter was predicted by Methyprimer software 11.0

Li lab and CpG Island Searcher. Then CpG island methylation status of Sox10 gene promoter was detected in glioblastoma multiforme and adjacent noncancerous tissues by methylation specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP).       Results      Two CpG islands

165 bp (1 241-1 405) and 105 bp (1 478-1 582)

were found in human Sox10 gene promoter according to bioinformatics analysis. CpG islands of human Sox10 gene promoter were partially methylated in the adjacent noncancerous tissues and glioblastoma multiforme

indicated by MSP results. BSP results showed that the percentage of methylation was 90.5% in glioblastoma multiform and 28.5% in the adjacent noncancerous tissues.       Conclusion      CpG islands of human Sox10 gene promoter are hypermethylated in glioblastoma multiforme. The down-regulation of human Sox10 gene might be mediated by the methylation as compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues.