Activation of hypermethylated P2RY1 mitigates gastric cancer by promoting apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation
Abstract Background P2RY1 receptor is known to cause cancer by activating the ERK signal pathway, its DNA methylation status or even the corresponding regulatory mechanism remains unknown. Methods In this study, DNA methylation chip was used to profile the genome-wide DNA methylation level in gastric cancer tissues. Then validated by the bioinformatics analysis in the TCGA database, Immunohistochemistry staining data obtained from the HPA database to verify the difference in protein expression between normal tissues and tumor tissues . Results The promoter region of P2RY1 was found to be highly methylated with 4 hypermethylated sites (|Δβ value| >0.2) in diffuse gastric cancer and the expression level of P2RY1 is relatively low compared with non-cancerous tissues. We also showed that MRS2365, a selective agonist of the P2RY1 receptor, can induce phosphorylation of ERK1/2, inhibit cell proliferation/migration and induce apoptosis. Conclusion High DNA methylation in the promoter region of P2RY1 may have contributed to the reduced expression of P2RY1’s mRNA, which is likely responsible for the “aggressive” nature of the diffuse type gastric cancer.