scholarly journals Histone Modifying Enzymes in Gynaecological Cancers

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 816
Author(s):  
Priya Ramarao-Milne ◽  
Olga Kondrashova ◽  
Sinead Barry ◽  
John D. Hooper ◽  
Jason S. Lee ◽  
...  

Genetic and epigenetic factors contribute to the development of cancer. Epigenetic dysregulation is common in gynaecological cancers and includes altered methylation at CpG islands in gene promoter regions, global demethylation that leads to genome instability and histone modifications. Histones are a major determinant of chromosomal conformation and stability, and unlike DNA methylation, which is generally associated with gene silencing, are amenable to post-translational modifications that induce facultative chromatin regions, or condensed transcriptionally silent regions that decondense resulting in global alteration of gene expression. In comparison, other components, crucial to the manipulation of chromatin dynamics, such as histone modifying enzymes, are not as well-studied. Inhibitors targeting DNA modifying enzymes, particularly histone modifying enzymes represent a potential cancer treatment. Due to the ability of epigenetic therapies to target multiple pathways simultaneously, tumours with complex mutational landscapes affected by multiple driver mutations may be most amenable to this type of inhibitor. Interrogation of the actionable landscape of different gynaecological cancer types has revealed that some patients have biomarkers which indicate potential sensitivity to epigenetic inhibitors. In this review we describe the role of epigenetics in gynaecological cancers and highlight how it may exploited for treatment.

2013 ◽  
Vol 450 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankha Satpathy ◽  
Arash Nabbi ◽  
Karl Riabowol

The five human ING genes encode at least 15 splicing isoforms, most of which affect cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis through their ability to alter gene expression by epigenetic mechanisms. Since their discovery in 1996, ING proteins have been classified as type II tumour suppressors on the basis of reports describing their down-regulation and mislocalization in a variety of cancer types. In addition to their regulation by transcriptional mechanisms, understanding the range of PTMs (post-translational modifications) of INGs is important in understanding how ING functions are fine-tuned in the physiological setting and how they add to the repertoire of activities affected by the INGs. In the present paper we review the different PTMs that have been reported to occur on INGs. We discuss the PTMs that modulate ING function under normal conditions and in response to a variety of stresses. We also describe the ING PTMs that have been identified by several unbiased MS-based PTM enrichment techniques and subsequent proteomic analysis. Among the ING PTMs identified to date, a subset has been characterized for their biological significance and have been shown to affect processes including subcellular localization, interaction with enzymatic complexes and ING protein half-life. The present review aims to highlight the emerging role of PTMs in regulating ING function and to suggest additional pathways and functions where PTMs may effect ING function.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther K. Elliott ◽  
Lloyd N. Hopkins ◽  
Robert Hensen ◽  
Heidi G. Sutherland ◽  
Larisa M. Haupt ◽  
...  

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are well known for their ability to regulate the expression of specific target genes through degradation or inhibition of translation of the target mRNA. In various cancers, miRNAs regulate gene expression by altering the epigenetic status of candidate genes that are implicated in various difficult to treat haematological malignancies such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma by acting as either oncogenes or tumour suppressor genes. Cellular and circulating miRNA biomarkers could also be directly utilised as disease markers for diagnosis and monitoring of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); however, the role of DNA methylation in miRNA expression regulation in NHL requires further scientific inquiry. In this study, we investigated the methylation levels of CpGs in CpG islands spanning the promoter regions of the miR-17–92 cluster host gene and the TET2 gene and correlated them with the expression levels of TET2 mRNA and miR-92a-3p and miR-92a-5p mature miRNAs in NHL cell lines, tumour samples, and the whole blood gDNA of an NHL case control cohort. Increased expression of both miR-92a-3p and miR-92a-5p and aberrant expression of TET2 was observed in NHL cell lines and tumour tissues, as well as disparate levels of dysfunctional promoter CGI methylation. Both miR-92a and TET2 may play a concerted role in NHL malignancy and disease pathogenesis.


Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Noberini ◽  
Camilla Restellini ◽  
Evelyn Oliva Savoia ◽  
Francesco Raimondi ◽  
Lavinia Ghiani ◽  
...  

Aberrations in histone post-translational modifications (PTMs), as well as in the histone modifying enzymes (HMEs) that catalyze their deposition and removal, have been reported in many tumors and many epigenetic inhibitors are currently under investigation for cancer treatment. Therefore, profiling epigenetic features in cancer could have important implications for the discovery of both biomarkers for patient stratification and novel epigenetic targets. In this study, we employed mass spectrometry-based approaches to comprehensively profile histone H3 PTMs in a panel of normal and tumoral tissues for different cancer types, identifying various changes, some of which appear to be a consequence of the increased proliferation rate of tumors, while others are cell-cycle independent. Histone PTM changes found in tumors partially correlate with alterations of the gene expression profiles of HMEs obtained from publicly available data and are generally lost in culture conditions. Through this analysis, we identified tumor- and subtype-specific histone PTM changes, but also widespread changes in the levels of histone H3 K9me3 and K14ac marks. In particular, H3K14ac showed a cell-cycle independent decrease in all the seven tumor/tumor subtype models tested and could represent a novel epigenetic hallmark of cancer.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Barturen ◽  
Stefanie Geisen ◽  
Francisco Dios ◽  
E. J. Maarten Hamberg ◽  
Michael Hackenberg ◽  
...  

Hypomethylated, CpG-rich DNA segments (CpG islands, CGIs) are epigenome markers involved in key biological processes. Aberrant methylation is implicated in the appearance of several disorders as cancer, immunodeficiency, or centromere instability. Furthermore, methylation differences at promoter regions between human and chimpanzee strongly associate with genes involved in neurological/psychological disorders and cancers. Therefore, the evolutionary comparative analyses of CGIs can provide insights on the functional role of these epigenome markers in both health and disease. Given the lack of specific tools, we developedCpGislandEVO. Briefly, we first compile a database of statistically significant CGIs for the best assembled mammalian genome sequences available to date. Second, by means of a coupled browser front-end, we focus on the CGIs overlapping orthologous genes extracted fromOrthoDB, thus ensuring the comparison between CGIs located on truly homologous genome segments. This allows comparing the main compositional features between homologous CGIs. Finally, to facilitate nucleotide comparisons, we lifted genome coordinates between assemblies from different species, which enables the analysis of sequence divergence by direct count of nucleotide substitutions and indels occurring between homologous CGIs. The resultingCpGislandEVOdatabase, linking together CGIs and single-cytosine DNA methylation data from several mammalian species, is freely available at our website.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Ma ◽  
Qing Shi ◽  
Gaofeng Cui ◽  
Haoyue Sheng ◽  
Maria Victoria Botuyan ◽  
...  

AbstractGeminin and its binding partner Cdt1 are essential for the regulation of DNA replication. Here we show that the CULLIN3 E3 ubiquitin ligase adaptor protein SPOP binds Geminin at endogenous level and regulates DNA replication. SPOP promotes K27-linked non-degradative poly-ubiquitination of Geminin at lysine residues 100 and 127. This poly-ubiquitination of Geminin prevents DNA replication over-firing by indirectly blocking the association of Cdt1 with the MCM protein complex, an interaction required for DNA unwinding and replication. SPOP is frequently mutated in certain human cancer types and implicated in tumorigenesis. We show that cancer-associated SPOP mutations impair Geminin K27-linked poly-ubiquitination and induce replication origin over-firing and re-replication. The replication stress caused by SPOP mutations triggers replication catastrophe and cell death upon ATR inhibition. Our results reveal a tumor suppressor role of SPOP in preventing DNA replication over-firing and genome instability and suggest that SPOP-mutated tumors may be susceptible to ATR inhibitor therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (18) ◽  
pp. 10172
Author(s):  
Saverio Candido ◽  
Barbara Maria Rita Tomasello ◽  
Alessandro Lavoro ◽  
Luca Falzone ◽  
Giuseppe Gattuso ◽  
...  

IL-6 pathway is abnormally hyperactivated in several cancers triggering tumor cell growth and immune system inhibition. Along with genomic mutation, the IL6 pathway gene expression can be affected by DNA methylation, microRNAs, and post-translational modifications. Computational analysis was performed on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets to explore the role of IL6, IL6R, IL6ST, and IL6R transmembrane isoform expression and their epigenetic regulation in different cancer types. IL6 was significantly modulated in 70% of tumor types, revealing either up- or down-regulation in an approximately equal number of tumors. Furthermore, IL6R and IL6ST were downregulated in more than 10 tumors. Interestingly, the correlation analysis demonstrated that only the IL6R expression was negatively affected by the DNA methylation within the promoter region in most tumors. Meanwhile, only the IL6ST expression was extensively modulated by miRNAs including miR-182-5p, which also directly targeted all three genes. In addition, IL6 upregulated miR-181a-3p, mirR-214-3p, miR-18a-5p, and miR-938, which in turn inhibited the expression of IL6 receptors. Finally, the patients’ survival rate was significantly affected by analyzed targets in some tumors. Our results suggest the relevance of epigenetic regulation of IL6 signaling and pave the way for further studies to validate these findings and to assess the prognostic and therapeutic predictive value of these epigenetic markers on the clinical outcome and survival of cancer patients.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshina Thapa ◽  
Swetha Vasudevan ◽  
Mimi Abo-Ayoub Ashqar ◽  
Eli Reich ◽  
Nataly Kravchenko-Balasha ◽  
...  

AbstractCancer cells have an altered transcriptome which contributes to their altered behaviors compared to normal cells. Indeed, many tumors express high levels of genes participating in meiosis or kinetochore biology, but the role of this high expression has not been fully elucidated. In this study we explore the relationship between this overexpression and genome instability and transformation capabilities of cancer cells. For this, we obtained expression data from 5 different cancer types which were analyzed using computational information-theoretic analysis. We were able to show that highly expressed meiotic/kinetochore genes were enriched in the altered gene expression subnetworks characterizing unstable cancer types with high chromosome instability (CIN). However, altered subnetworks found in the cancers with low CIN did not include meiotic and kinetochore genes. Representative gene candidates, found by the analysis to be correlated with a CIN phenotype, were further explored by transfecting genomically-stable (HCT116) and unstable (MCF7) cancer cell lines with vectors overexpressing those genes. This overexpression resulted in an increase in the numbers of abnormal cell divisions and defective spindle formations and in increased transformation properties in stable cancer HCT116 cells. Interestingly, the same properties were less affected by the overexpressed genes in the unstable MCF7 cancer cells. Our results indicate that overexpression of both meiosis and kinetochore genes is capable of driving genomic instability and cancer progression.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Temko ◽  
Ian PM Tomlinson ◽  
Simone Severini ◽  
Benjamin Schuster-Böckler ◽  
Trevor A Graham

ABSTRACTEpidemiological evidence has long associated environmental mutagens with increased cancer risk. However, links between specific mutation-causing processes and the acquisition of individual driver mutations have remained obscure. Here we have used public cancer sequencing data to infer the independent effects of mutation and selection on driver mutation complement. First, we detect associations between a range of mutational processes, including those linked to smoking, ageing, APOBEC and DNA mismatch repair (MMR) and the presence of key driver mutations across cancer types. Second, we quantify differential selection between well-known alternative driver mutations, including differences in selection between distinct mutant residues in the same gene. These results show that while mutational processes play a large role in determining which driver mutations are present in a cancer, the role of selection frequently dominates.


2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 2834-2843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoyuki Fujita ◽  
Sugiko Watanabe ◽  
Takaya Ichimura ◽  
Yoshiaki Ohkuma ◽  
Tsutomu Chiba ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT DNA methylation is involved in a variety of genome functions, including gene control and chromatin dynamics. MBD1 is a transcriptional regulator through the cooperation of a methyl-CpG binding domain, cysteine-rich CXXC domains, and a transcriptional repression domain. A yeast two-hybrid screen was performed to investigate the role of MBD1 in methylation-based transcriptional repression. We report a mediator, MBD1-containing chromatin-associated factor (MCAF), that interacts with the transcriptional repression domain of MBD1. MCAF harbors two conserved domains that allow it to interact with MBD1 and enhancer-like transactivator Sp1. MCAF possesses a coactivator-like activity, and it seems to facilitate Sp1-mediated transcription. In contrast, the MBD1-MCAF complex blocks transcription through affecting Sp1 on methylated promoter regions. These data provide a mechanistic basis for direct inhibition of gene expression via methylation-dependent and histone deacetylation-resistant processes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Jin ◽  
Yi Song ◽  
Guiyuan Yu

Objective. In the current study, the role of abnormal methylation of Wnt5a gene promoter regions in human epithelial ovarian cancer was investigated. Methods. Wnt5a expressions were examined by immunohistochemistry in epithelial ovarian tissues (30 normal and 79 human EOC tissues). SKOV3 cells were treated with different concentrations of 5-Aza-CdR (0.5, 5, and 50 μmol/L). The methylation status of the Wnt5a promoter was analyzed using a methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP), and the expression level of Wnt5a mRNA was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay, and apoptosis was analyzed using flow cytometry. Results. (1) Compared with normal tissues, Wnt5a expressions were reduced or lost in EOC (P<0.05). Wnt5a expression had a close relationship with histological grade, FIGO stage, and lymph node metastasis (P=0.005, P=0.022, and P=0.037, resp.). (2) Wnt5a abnormal methylation status existed in ovarian cancer tissues and was higher than that of normal ovarian tissue (P<0.01). (3) Before treatment with 5-Aza-CdR, the promoter of the Wnt5a gene was methylated in SKOV3 cells; accordingly, Wnt5a mRNA levels were low to absent in SKOV3 cells. (4) Following 5-Aza-CdR treatment, MSP analysis revealed complete demethylation of the Wnt5a promoter in the SKOV3 cell line, particularly at 5 μmol/L 5-Aza-CdR. Wnt5a expression increased in SKOV3 cells following treatment with a demethylating agent (P≤0.001). (5) The growth rate of the cells was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by treatment with 5-Aza-CdR. (6) The cell apoptosis rate increased gradually after treatment with 0.5, 5, and 50 μmol/L 5-Aza-CdR. The apoptosis rate exists in a dose-dependent relationship with 5-Aza-CdR concentration (F=779.73, P<0.01). Conclusions. Wnt5a gene region promoter aberrant methylation existed in epithelial ovarian cancer, and abnormal methylation of Wnt5a gene promoter regions may be a new target for the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer.


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