scholarly journals H3K36 trimethylation-mediated biological functions in cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chu Xiao ◽  
Tao Fan ◽  
He Tian ◽  
Yujia Zheng ◽  
Zheng Zhou ◽  
...  

AbstractHistone modification is an important form of epigenetic regulation. Thereinto, histone methylation is a critical determination of chromatin states, participating in multiple cellular processes. As a conserved histone methylation mark, histone 3 lysine 36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) can mediate multiple transcriptional-related events, such as the regulation of transcriptional activity, transcription elongation, pre-mRNA alternative splicing, and RNA m6A methylation. Additionally, H3K36me3 also contributes to DNA damage repair. Given the crucial function of H3K36me3 in genome regulation, the roles of H3K36me3 and its sole methyltransferase SETD2 in pathogenesis, especially malignancies, have been emphasized in many studies, and it is conceivable that disruption of histone methylation regulatory network composed of “writer”, “eraser”, “reader”, and the mutation of H3K36me3 codes have the capacity of powerfully modulating cancer initiation and development. Here we review H3K36me3-mediated biological processes and summarize the latest findings regarding its role in cancers. We highlight the significance of epigenetic combination therapies in cancers.

Author(s):  
Lili Gao ◽  
Weiping Yu ◽  
Peng Song ◽  
Qing Li

Background: (su(var)-3-9,enhancer-of-zeste,trithorax) domain-containing protein 7/9 (SET7/9) is a member of the protein lysine methyltransferases (PLMTs or PKMTs) family. It contains a SET domain. Recent studies demonstrate that SET7/9 methylates both lysine 4 of histone 3 (H3-K4) and lysine(s) of non-histone proteins, including transcription factors, tumor suppressors, and membrane-associated receptors. Objective: This article mainly reviews the non-histone methylation effects of SET7/9 and its functions in tumorigenesis and development. Methods: PubMed was screened for this information. Results: SET7/9 plays a key regulatory role in various biological processes such as cell proliferation, transcription regulation, cell cycle, protein stability, cardiac morphogenesis, and development. In addition, SET7/9 is involved in the pathogenesis of hair loss, breast cancer progression, human carotid plaque atherosclerosis, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, obesity, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and pulmonary fibrosis. Conclusion: SET7/9 is an important methyltransferase, which can catalyze the methylation of a variety of proteins. Its substrates are closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors.


IUCrJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Giegé

Crystallogenesis is a longstanding topic that has transformed into a discipline that is mainly focused on the preparation of crystals for practising crystallographers. Although the idiosyncratic features of proteins have to be taken into account, the crystallization of proteins is governed by the same physics as the crystallization of inorganic materials. At present, a diversified panel of crystallization methods adapted to proteins has been validated, and although only a few methods are in current practice, the success rate of crystallization has increased constantly, leading to the determination of ∼105X-ray structures. These structures reveal a huge repertoire of protein folds, but they only cover a restricted part of macromolecular diversity across the tree of life. In the future, crystals representative of missing structures or that will better document the structural dynamics and functional steps underlying biological processes need to be grown. For the pertinent choice of biologically relevant targets, computer-guided analysis of structural databases is needed. From another perspective, crystallization is a self-assembly process that can occur in the bulk of crowded fluids, with crystals being supramolecular assemblies. Life also uses self-assembly and supramolecular processes leading to transient, or less often stable, complexes. An integrated view of supramolecularity implies that proteins crystallizing eitherin vitroorin vivoor participating in cellular processes share common attributes, notably determinants and antideterminants that favour or disfavour their correct or incorrect associations. As a result, underin vivoconditions proteins show a balance between features that favour or disfavour association. If this balance is broken, disorders/diseases occur. Understanding crystallization underin vivoconditions is a challenge for the future. In this quest, the analysis of packing contacts and contacts within oligomers will be crucial in order to decipher the rules governing protein self-assembly and will guide the engineering of novel biomaterials. In a wider perspective, understanding such contacts will open the route towards supramolecular biology and generalized crystallogenesis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (15) ◽  
pp. 1663-1670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunyan Ao ◽  
Shunshan Jin ◽  
Yuan Lin ◽  
Quan Zou

Protein methylation is an important and reversible post-translational modification that regulates many biological processes in cells. It occurs mainly on lysine and arginine residues and involves many important biological processes, including transcriptional activity, signal transduction, and the regulation of gene expression. Protein methylation and its regulatory enzymes are related to a variety of human diseases, so improved identification of methylation sites is useful for designing drugs for a variety of related diseases. In this review, we systematically summarize and analyze the tools used for the prediction of protein methylation sites on arginine and lysine residues over the last decade.


2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenhui Zhou ◽  
Kayla M. Gross ◽  
Charlotte Kuperwasser

ABSTRACT The transcription factor Snai2, encoded by the SNAI2 gene, is an evolutionarily conserved C2H2 zinc finger protein that orchestrates biological processes critical to tissue development and tumorigenesis. Initially characterized as a prototypical epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) transcription factor, Snai2 has been shown more recently to participate in a wider variety of biological processes, including tumor metastasis, stem and/or progenitor cell biology, cellular differentiation, vascular remodeling and DNA damage repair. The main role of Snai2 in controlling such processes involves facilitating the epigenetic regulation of transcriptional programs, and, as such, its dysregulation manifests in developmental defects, disruption of tissue homeostasis, and other disease conditions. Here, we discuss our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating Snai2 expression, abundance and activity. In addition, we outline how these mechanisms contribute to disease phenotypes or how they may impact rational therapeutic targeting of Snai2 dysregulation in human disease.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 2118
Author(s):  
Yusuke Hosoya ◽  
Junko Ohkanda

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are critical players in the dynamic control of diverse cellular processes, and provide potential new drug targets because their dysregulation is closely related to many diseases. This review focuses on several medicinal studies that have identified low-molecular-weight inhibitors of IDPs. In addition, clinically relevant liquid–liquid phase separations—which critically involve both intermolecular interactions between IDPs and their posttranslational modification—are analyzed to understand the potential of IDPs as new drug targets.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heyun Zhang ◽  
Zhangyu Zheng ◽  
Rongqin Zhang ◽  
Yongcong Yan ◽  
Yaorong Peng ◽  
...  

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. SET and MYND domain-containing protein 3 (SMYD3) has been shown to promote the progression of various types of human cancers, including liver cancer; however, the detailed molecular mechanism is still largely unknown. Here, we report that SMYD3 expression in HCC is an independent prognostic factor for survival and promotes the proliferation and migration of HCC cells. We observed that SMYD3 upregulated sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1) promoter activity by methylating histone 3 (H3K4me3). S1PR1 was expressed at high levels in HCC samples, and high S1PR1 expression was associated with shorter survival. S1PR1 expression was also positively correlated with SMYD3 expression in HCC samples. We confirmed that SMYD3 promotes HCC cell growth and migration in vitro and in vivo by upregulating S1PR1 expression. Further investigations revealed that SMYD3 affects critical signaling pathways associated with the progression of HCC through S1PR1. These findings strongly suggest that SMYD3 has a crucial function in HCC progression that is partially mediated by histone methylation at the downstream gene S1PR1, which affects key signaling pathways associated with carcinogenesis and the progression of HCC.


Author(s):  
Azzurra Sargenti ◽  
Lucia Merolle ◽  
Giulia Andreani ◽  
Concettina Cappadone ◽  
Giovanna Farruggia ◽  
...  

Magnesium (Mg) is essential for biological processes, but its cellular homeostasis has not been thoroughly elucidated, mainly because of the inadequacy of the available techniques to map intracellular Mg distribution. Recently, particular interest has been raised by a new family of fluorescent probes, diaza-18-crown-hydroxyquinoline (DCHQ), that shows remarkably high affinity and specificity for Mg, thus permitting the detection of the total intracellular Mg. The data obtained by fluori- metric and cytofluorimetric assays performed with DCHQ5 are in good agreement with atomic absorption spectroscopy, confirming that DCHQ5 probe allows both qualitative and quantitative determination of total intracellular Mg.


Author(s):  
Kyungsuk Yum ◽  
Sungsoo Na ◽  
Yang Xiang ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Min-Feng Yu

Studying biological processes and mechanics in living cells is challenging but highly rewarding. Recent advances in experimental techniques have provided numerous ways to investigate cellular processes and mechanics of living cells. However, most of existing techniques for biomechanics are limited to experiments outside or on the membrane of cells, due to the difficulties in physically accessing the interior of living cells. On the other hand, nanomaterials, such as fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) and magnetic nanoparticles, have shown great promise to overcome such limitations due to their small sizes and excellent functionalities, including bright and stable fluorescence and remote manipulability. However, except a few systems, the use of nanoparticles has been limited to the study of biological studies on cell membranes or related to endocytosis, because of the difficulty of delivering dispersed and single nanoparticles into living cells. Various strategies have been explored, but delivered nanoparticles are often trapped in the endocytic pathway or form aggregates in the cytoplasm, limiting their further use. Here we show a nanoscale direct delivery method, named nanomechanochemical delivery, where we manipulate a nanotube-based nanoneedle, carrying “cargo” (QDs in this study), to mechanically penetrate the cell membrane, access specific areas inside cells, and release the cargo [1]. We selectively delivered well-dispersed QDs into either the cytoplasm or the nucleus of living cells. We quantified the dynamics of the delivered QDs by single-molecule tracking and demonstrated the applicability of the QDs as a nanoscale probe for studying nanomechanics inside living cells (by using the biomicrorhology method), revealing the biomechanical heterogeneity of the cellular environment. This method may allow new strategies for studying biological processes and mechanics in living cells with spatial and temporal precision, potentially at the single-molecule level.


Author(s):  
Uday Chippada ◽  
Xue Jiang ◽  
Lulu Li ◽  
Rene Schloss ◽  
Bernard Yurke ◽  
...  

Hydrogels have been used as substrates by many researchers in the study of cellular processes. The mechanical properties of these gels play a significant role in the growth of the cells. Significant research using several methods like compression, indentation, atomic force microscopy and manipulation of beads has been performed in the past to characterize the stiffness of these substrates. However, most of the methods employed assume the gel to be incompressible, with a Poisson’s ratio of 0.5. However, Poisson’s ratio can differ from 0.5. Hence, a more complete characterization of the elastic properties of hydrogels requires that one experimentally obtain the value of at least two of the three quantities: Poisson’s ratio, shear modulus, and elastic modulus.


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