多发性骨髓瘤中表观遗传学修饰的研究进展北大核心

多发性骨髓瘤(multiple myeloma,MM)是一种病因不明,目前仍无法治愈的恶性血液系统性疾病。研究显示MM是一种复杂的表观遗传学修饰所驱动的恶性肿瘤,表观遗传学修饰是改变MM发病进展的重要机制,并影响治疗及预后。本文将对表观遗传学异常调控在MM的发生发展过程中的作用及相关耐药机制和治疗的现状进行综述。     

Multiscale quantification of morphological heterogeneity with creation of a predictor of longer survival in glioblastoma

Intratumor heterogeneity is a main cause of the dismal prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM). Yet, there remains a lack of a uniform assessment of the degree of heterogeneity. With a multiscale approach, we addressed the hypothesis that intratumor heterogeneity exists on different levels comprising traditional regional analyses, but also innovative methods including computer-assisted analysis of tumor morphology combined with epigenomic data. With this aim, 157 biopsies of 37 patients with therapy-naive IDH-wildtype GBM were analyzed regarding the intratumor variance of protein expression of glial marker GFAP, microglia marker Iba1 and proliferation marker Mib1. Hematoxylin and eosin stained slides were evaluated for tumor vascularization. For the estimation of pixel intensity and nuclear profiling, automated analysis was used. Additionally, DNA methylation profiling was conducted separately for the single biopsies. Scoring systems were established to integrate several parameters into one score for the four examined modalities of heterogeneity (regional, cellular, pixel-level and epigenomic). As a result, we could show that heterogeneity was detected in all four modalities. Furthermore, for the regional, cellular and epigenomic level, we confirmed the results of earlier studies stating that a higher degree of heterogeneity is associated with poorer overall survival. To integrate all modalities into one score, we designed a predictor of longer survival, which showed a highly significant separation regarding the OS. In conclusion, multiscale intratumor heterogeneity exists in glioblastoma and its degree has an impact on overall survival. In future studies, the implementation of a broadly feasible heterogeneity index should be considered.     

Epigenetically silenced PD-L1 confers drug resistance to anti-PD1 therapy in gastric cardia adenocarcinoma

ObjectivesThe anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy has been demonstrated safe and effective for cancer patients. However, our previous data showed that it had no obvious effects on gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA). Thus, we investigated how the expression level of the PD-L1 was affected by the anti-PD-1 therapy, because it has been demonstrated that the PD-L1 level affects the therapeutic efficient of the anti-PD-1 therapy.Materials and methodsThe mRNA and protein levels of PD-L1 in the GCA tissues and corresponding normal tissues were determined by qPCR and ELISA. Promoter methylation was analyzed by bisulfite sequencing. Finally the methylation of PD-L1 promoter was confirmed in the mice.ResultsThe level of PD-L1 was up-regulated in the GCA tissues when compared to the adjacent non-tumor tissues. The anti-PD1 therapy could reduce the PD-L1 levels in patients with cancer recurrence. The promoter of PD-L1 was more hypermethylated in the secondary GCA after the anti-PD-1 therapy when compared with the adjacent non-tumor tissues or the primary GCA without the anti-PD-1 therapy. Furthermore, the promoter methylation of PD-L1 could be induced by the anti-PD-1 therapy in the mice model. Finally, the anti-PD-1 plus DNA hypomethylating agent azacytidine could significantly suppressed the tumor growth better than the anti-PD-1 therapy.ConclusionsHere we demonstrated that the unresponsiveness of GCA to the anti-PD-1 therapy might result from the promoter methylation and down-regulation of PD-L1. The anti-PD-1 plus azacytidine might be a more promising approach to treat GCA.     

MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3在脑胶质瘤组织中的表达及其临床意义

[摘要] 目的：探讨黑色素瘤抗原基因-A1（MAGE-A1）和MAGE-A3 在脑胶质瘤组织中的表达及其临床意义。方法：选取2006 年1 月至2010 年1 月河北医科大学第四医院神经外科手术切除的78 例脑胶质瘤组织标本和15 例车祸死亡捐献者的正常脑组织标本。用RT-PCR法检测胶质瘤组织中MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 的表达，分析其表达水平与患者预后的关系；用MSP-PCR术检测MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 基因启动子区的甲基化状态，分析两者表达与甲基化之间的关系；用RT-PCR法检测胶质瘤U251 和U87 细胞中MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 表达以及经DNA甲基转移酶抑制剂5-氮杂-2''-脱氧胞苷（5-Aza-CdR）和组蛋白去乙酰化酶抑制剂曲古抑菌素A（TSA）联合作用后两者的表达水平。结果：78 例胶质瘤组织中MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 mRNA阳性表达率分别为65.34%和38.46%，而在15 例正常脑组织中未发现2 种mRNA表达。MAGE-A1 阳性组患者5 年生存率较阴性组低（P<0.05）。MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 基因启动子区去甲基化水平与其在mRNA水平上的表达均有显著的相关性（均P<0.01）。未经5-Aza-CdR 和TSA处理的U87 细胞未见MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 mRNA的表达，U251 细胞则有少量表达。单独给予TSA不能引起MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 基因的表达激活，单独给予5-Aza-CdR 或与TSA合用可以引起该2 个基因的表达激活，且两者合用的作用优于单独给药。结论：脑胶质瘤组织中有不同程度的MAGE-A1 和MAGE-A3 基因表达，MAGE-A1 基因表达与患者的预后不良相关。DNA启动子区甲基化和组蛋白乙酰化是MAGE-A1和MAGE-A3基因表达激活的重要机制。     

Establishment of epigenetic markers to predict irradiation efficacy against oropharyngeal cancer

Irradiation, or chemoradiotherapy, is a curative treatment for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Its invasiveness, however, can often negate its efficacy. Therefore, developing methods to predict which patients would benefit from irradiation is urgent. Promoter DNA hypermethylation was recently reported to correlate with favorable OPSCC prognosis. It is still unclear, however, whether there is an association between promoter DNA methylation and response to irradiation. In this study, we analyzed DNA methylation in the specimens from 40 OPSCC patients who had undergone irradiation, using the Infinium assay. Our results showed significant correlation between high levels of promoter DNA methylation and better response to treatment (P < 0.01). We used the 10 most differentially‐methylated genes between responders and non–responders to develop a panel of predictive markers for efficacy. Our panel had high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy (92%, 93% and 93%, respectively). We conducted pyrosequencing to quantitatively validate the methylation levels of 8 of the 10 marker genes (ROBO1, ULK4P3, MYOD1, LBX1, CACNA1A, IRX4, DPYSL3 and ELAVL2) obtained by Infinium. The validation by pyrosequencing showed that these 8 genes had a high prediction performance for the training set of 40 specimens and for a validation set of 35 OPSCC specimens, showing 96% sensitivity, 89% specificity and 94% accuracy. Methylation of these markers correlated significantly with better progression‐free and overall survival rates, regardless of human papillomavirus status. These results indicate that increased DNA methylation is associated with better responses to irradiation therapy and that DNA methylation can help establish efficacy prediction markers in OPSCC.     

G6PD缺陷对 1,4-苯醌致K562细胞DNA甲基化的影响及其机制

目的：研究G6PD缺陷对1，4-苯醌（1，4-BQ）致K562细胞DNA甲基化的影响及其机制。方法：分别采用10和20 μmol/L的1，4-BQ溶液对G6PD缺陷K562细胞和正常表达细胞进行染毒，以未染毒组为对照，各组均设置12、24、48 h共3个染毒时间，另在20 μmol/L 1，4-BQ染毒组细胞中加入1.5 mmol/L谷胱甘肽（GSH）进行干预。采用比色法检测全基因组DNA甲基化相对水平，qPCR法检测甲基转移酶DNMT1、DNMT3a、DNMT3b mRNA表达水平，Western blot法检测DNMT1、DNMT3a蛋白表达水平。结果：10和20 μmol/L 1，4-BQ染毒后的K562细胞全基因组DNA甲基化水平升高（P<0.05），除20 μmol/L 1，4-BQ染毒48 h组外，其他各染毒组的G6PD缺陷K562细胞全基因组DNA甲基化水平均高于正常细胞（P<0.05）。在1，4-BQ染毒后，G6PD缺陷细胞的DNMT1、DNMT3a、DNMT3b mRNA水平以及DNMT1、DNMT3a蛋白表达水平均高于正常细胞（P<0.05）。加入GSH后，G6PD缺陷细胞和正常细胞的全基因组DNA甲基化相对水平、DNMTs mRNA及蛋白表达水平的差异的无统计学意义（P均>0.05）。结论：G6PD缺陷可能以抑制K562细胞GSH合成的方式增加氧化应激水平，最终导致细胞DNMTs生成的增多以及全基因组DNA甲基化程度的升高。     

Early Experiences of Threat,but Not Deprivation,Are Associated With Accelerated Biological Aging in Children and Adolescents

Background

Recent conceptual models argue that early life adversity (ELA) accelerates development, which may contribute to poor mental and physical health outcomes. Evidence for accelerated development in youths comes from studies of telomere shortening or advanced pubertal development following circumscribed ELA experiences and neuroimaging studies of circuits involved in emotional processing. It is unclear whether all ELA is associated with accelerated development across global metrics of biological aging or whether this pattern emerges following specific adversity types.