TIP30基因启动子甲基化与大肠癌细胞5-氟尿嘧啶化疗敏感性的关系

目的探讨TIP30启动子CpG岛甲基化状态与大肠癌细胞对5-氟尿嘧啶(5-Fu)敏感性的关系。方法采用MTT法检测HCT116和HT29大肠癌细胞株对5-Fu的敏感性。应用甲基化特异性PCR(MSP)方法,检测2细胞株对5-Fu敏感性有差异的大肠癌细胞株中TIP30基因启动子CpG岛甲基化状态,并用RT-PCR检测其mRNA的表达水平。结果 TIP30基因在HCT116及HT29癌细胞中甲基化状态有差异,其表达水平与启动子CpG岛甲基化状态有关,并且二者对5-氟尿嘧啶敏感度不同。结论 TIP30基因启动子甲基化状态可能影响大肠癌细胞对化疗药物的敏感性,为大肠癌患者的个体化治疗提供了可能。     

Epigenetic identification of ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 as a functional tumor suppressor and biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma and other digestive tumors

The ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1) is a carboxyl-terminal ubiquitin hydrolase regulating cellular ubiquitin levels, recently suggested as a tumor suppressor. However, the role of UCHL1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not clear. We investigated the expression and DNA methylation of the UCHL1 in primary HCC, liver metastases from digestive carcinomas, and primary digestive cancers. UCHL1 is expressed in all normal tissues and immortalized normal epithelial cell lines, but was low or silenced in 77% (10/13) of HCC cell lines, which is well correlated with its promoter methylation status. Methylation was further detected in 44% (12/27) of HCCs, but less in metastatic tumors generated from colorectal and stomach in the liver (19%, 3/16; P < 0.05). Methylation was also detected in primary digestive tumors, including 71% (22/31) of colon, 77% (53/69) of gastric, and 40% (18/45) of esophageal carcinomas, but none or occasionally in paired adjacent nontumor tissues. Detailed methylation analysis of 49 CpG sites at a 540-bp promoter region by bisulfite genomic sequencing confirmed the methylation. UCHL1 silencing could be reversed by chemical or genetic demethylation of the promoter, indicating direct epigenetic silencing. Restoring UCHL1 expression in silenced cell lines significantly inhibited their growth and colony formation ability by inhibiting cell proliferation, causing cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase and inducing apoptosis through the intrinsic caspase-dependent pathway. Moreover, UCHL1 directly interacts with p53 and stabilizes p53 through the ubiquitination pathway. CONCLUSION: Epigenetic inactivation of UCHL1 is common in primary HCCs and other digestive tumors. UCHL1 appears to be a functional tumor suppressor involved in the tumorigenesis of HCCs and other digestive cancers.     

IRX1在胰腺癌中的表达及其启动子区甲基化状态

目的 检测胰腺癌的易洛魁族同源盒基因(IRX1)的表达及其启动子区的甲基化状态,探讨两者间的相关性.方法 采用实时PCR法检测12例胰腺癌组织及6株胰腺癌细胞株的IRX1 mRNA 表达.基因序列分析IRX1基因启动子区结构.应用甲基化抑制剂5-氮杂-2＇-脱氧胞苷(5-Aza-dC)处理胰腺癌细胞,采用甲基化特异性PCR(MSP)、非甲基化特异性PCR (USP)及实时PCR检测处理前后IRX1启动子甲基化状态和IRX1 mRNA表达.结果 胰腺癌组织IRX1 mRNA的表达量为0.31±0.11,显著低于癌旁正常胰腺组织的1.05±0.32(P ＜0.01).胰腺癌细胞AsPCl、BxPC3、Capan-2、PANC1、PaTu8988和SW1990的IRX1 mRNA表达量分别为0.36±0.08、0.34±0.16、0.37±0.11、0.25±0.06、0.31±0.04、0.36±0.02,均显著低于人肾上皮293细胞的1.03±0.28(P＜0.05或＜0.01).IRX1基因启动子区富含CpG岛.各胰腺癌细胞株IRX1基因启动子CpG岛对应位点均有甲基化,经5-Aza-dC处理后甲基化状态得以逆转,IRX mRNA的表达也得以恢复.结论 胰腺癌的IRX1 mRNA表达下降,与其IRX1基因启动子区CpG岛高甲基化状态相关.     

Homeobox gene methylation in lung cancer studied by genome-wide analysis with a microarray-based methylated CpG island recovery assay

De novo methylation of CpG islands is a common phenomenon in human cancer, but the mechanisms of cancer-associated DNA methylation are not known. We have used tiling arrays in combination with the methylated CpG island recovery assay to investigate methylation of CpG islands genome-wide and at high resolution. We find that all four HOX gene clusters on chromosomes 2, 7, 12, and 17 are preferential targets for DNA methylation in cancer cell lines and in early-stage lung cancer. CpG islands associated with many other homeobox genes, such as SIX, LHX, PAX, DLX, and Engrailed, were highly methylated as well. Altogether, more than half (104 of 192) of all CpG island-associated homeobox genes in the lung cancer cell line A549 were methylated. Analysis of paralogous HOX genes showed that not all paralogues undergo cancer-associated methylation simultaneously. The HOXA cluster was analyzed in greater detail. Comparison with ENCODE-derived data shows that lack of methylation at CpG-rich sequences correlates with presence of the active chromatin mark, histone H3 lysine-4 methylation in the HOXA region. Methylation analysis of HOXA genes in primary squamous cell carcinomas of the lung led to the identification of the HOXA7- and HOXA9-associated CpG islands as frequent methylation targets in stage 1 tumors. Homeobox genes are potentially useful as DNA methylation markers for early diagnosis of the disease. The finding of widespread methylation of homeobox genes lends support to the hypothesis that a substantial fraction of genes methylated in human cancer are targets of the Polycomb complex.     

Expression of ECRG4, a novel esophageal cancer－related gene,downregulated by CpG island hypermethylation in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

AIM: To study the mechanisms responsible for inactivation of a novel esophageal cancer related gene 4 (ECRG4) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHODS: A pair of primers was designed to amplify a 220 bp fragment, which contains 16 CpG sites in the core promoter region of the ECRG 4 gene. PCR products of bisulfite-modified CpG islands were analyzed by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC), which were confirmed by DNA sequencing. The methylation status of ECRG 4 promoter in 20 cases of esophageal cancer and the adjacent normal tissues, 5 human tumor cell lines (esophageal cancer cell line-NEC, EC109, EC9706; gastric cancer cell line- GLC; human embryo kidney cell line-Hek293) and 2 normal esophagus tissues were detected. The expression level of the ECRG 4 gene in these samples was examined by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The expression level of ECRG 4 gene was varied. Of 20 esophageal cancer tissues, nine were unexpressed, six were lowly expressed and five were highly expressed compared with the adjacent tissues and the 2 normal esophageal epithelia. In addition, 4 out of the 5 human cell lines were also unexpressed. A high frequency of methylation was revealed in 12 (8 unexpressed and 4 lowly expressed) of the 15 (80 %) downregulated cancer tissues and 3 of the 4 unexpressed cell lines. No methylation peak was observed in the two highly expressed normal esophageal epithelia and the methylation frequency was low (3/20) among the 20 cases in the highly expressed adjacent tissues. The methylation status of the samples was consistent with the result of DNA sequencing. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the inactivation of ECRG 4 gene by hypermethylation is a frequent molecular event in ESCC and may be involved in the carcinogenesis of this cancer.     

Predicting aberrant CpG island methylation

Epigenetic silencing associated with aberrant methylation of promoter region CpG islands is one mechanism leading to loss of tumor suppressor function in human cancer. Profiling of CpG island methylation indicates that some genes are more frequently methylated than others, and that each tumor type is associated with a unique set of methylated genes. However, little is known about why certain genes succumb to this aberrant event. To address this question, we used Restriction Landmark Genome Scanning to analyze the susceptibility of 1,749 unselected CpG islands to de novo methylation driven by overexpression of DNA cytosine-5-methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). We found that although the overall incidence of CpG island methylation was increased in cells overexpressing DNMT1, not all loci were equally affected. The majority of CpG islands (69.9%) were resistant to de novo methylation, regardless of DNMT1 overexpression. In contrast, we identified a subset of methylation-prone CpG islands (3.8%) that were consistently hypermethylated in multiple DNMT1 overexpressing clones. Methylation-prone and methylation-resistant CpG islands were not significantly different with respect to size, C+G content, CpG frequency, chromosomal location, or promoter association. We used DNA pattern recognition and supervised learning techniques to derive a classification function based on the frequency of seven novel sequence patterns that was capable of discriminating methylation-prone from methylation-resistant CpG islands with 82% accuracy. The data indicate that CpG islands differ in their intrinsic susceptibility to de novo methylation, and suggest that the propensity for a CpG island to become aberrantly methylated can be predicted based on its sequence context.     

肝癌细胞中OY-TES-1基因启动子的甲基化状态

目的:研究肝癌细胞株OY-TES-1启动子的甲基化状态及甲基转移酶抑制剂对其启动子甲基化的影响.方法:运用生物信息学在线软件预测OY-TES-1启动子区域及转录因子结合位点;应用亚硫酸氢盐测序法(bisulfite-sequencing PCR,BSP)分析目的基因CpG位点的甲基化状态;用甲基转移酶抑制剂5-Aza-...     

胰腺癌组织SPARC基因CpG岛甲基化状态及临床意义

目的 检测胰腺癌SPARC基因CpG岛的甲基化状态及其与临床病理参数的关系.方法 收集17例胰腺癌及相应癌旁组织、6例CP和6例正常胰腺组织以及6例健康成人外周血液标本,抽提DNA,进行亚硫酸氢盐修饰,然后行甲基化特异性PCR,检测SPARC基因第一外显子区CpG岛的甲基化状态,并分析与肿瘤病理参数的关系.结果 健康人外周血白细胞DNA中SPARC基因第一外显子区CpG位点均无甲基化.正常胰腺、CP、胰腺癌及相应癌旁组织SPARC基因第2、3、4、5、6、7 CpG位点的甲基化率分别为61.6%、47.1%、37.5%、24.7%;第1,8、9、10、11、12 CpG位点的甲基化率分别为52.0%、28.7%、16.7%和0.胰腺癌SPARC基因甲基化率与正常胰腺、CP比较均差别非常显著(P＜0.001),与相应癌旁组织比较差别不显著.胰腺癌SPARC基因CpG岛甲基化与患者性别、年龄、危险诱因(如长期吸烟或饮酒、CP)、肿瘤大小、分化程度、TNM分期、淋巴结转移等均无显著差异.结论 胰腺癌SPARC基因第一外显子区CpG岛为高甲基化状态,可能为胰腺癌发生、发展的早期事件.     

Distribution of the long leptin receptor isoform in brush border,basolateral membrane,and cytoplasm of enterocytes

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A subgroup of colorectal cancers (CRC) referred to as the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP+) shows simultaneous methylation of multiple CpG islands. The clinicopathological and molecular characteristics of this phenotype remain uncertain however. METHODS: We analysed methylation of CpG islands in the p16 and MDR1 genes and MINT-2 clone in 275 stage II/III CRCs. RESULTS: Concurrent methylation of two or more CpG islands was observed in 32% of cases and was considered to represent CIMP+. These were often poorly differentiated, had less TP53 mutations, and originated frequently in the proximal or higher stage CRC compared with CIMP- tumours (p<0.05 for each). CIMP+ had no prognostic significance in stage II or stage III CRC treated by surgery alone. hMLH1 methylated tumours comprised the majority (81%) of cases with microsatellite instability, were frequently observed in older female patients, were often poorly differentiated or CIMP+, and contained wild-type K-ras (p<0.05 for each). Females who were heterozygous or homozygous for the C677T MTHFR polymorphism were at increased risk of developing CIMP+ CRC (odds ratio 2.17, 95% confidence interval 1.03-4.57; p=0.037). CONCLUSIONS: These observations made in a relatively large unselected series of CRC support the notion that CIMP+ characterises a subgroup of tumours with distinctive phenotypic features.