scholarly journals A model for the aberrant DNA methylomes in aging cells and cancer cells

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 997-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiming Zhang ◽  
Kang Zhang ◽  
Jian-Kang Zhu

Abstract DNA methylation at the fifth position of cytosine is a major epigenetic mark conserved in plants and mammals. Genome-wide DNA methylation patterns are dynamically controlled by integrated activities of establishment, maintenance, and removal. In both plants and mammals, a pattern of global DNA hypomethylation coupled with increased methylation levels at some specific genomic regions arises at specific developmental stages and in certain abnormal cells, such as mammalian aging cells and cancer cells as well as some plant epigenetic mutants. Here we provide an overview of this distinct DNA methylation pattern in mammals and plants, and propose that a methylstat, which is a cis-element responsive to both DNA methylation and active demethylation activities and controlling the transcriptional activity of a key DNA methylation regulator, can help to explain the enigmatic DNA methylation patterns in aging cells and cancer cells.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean S Fain ◽  
Axelle Loriot ◽  
Anna Diacofotaki ◽  
Aurelie Van Tongelen ◽  
Charles De Smet

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mark associated with gene repression. It is now well established that tumor development involves alterations in DNA methylation patterns, which include both gains (hypermethylation) and losses (hypomethylation) of methylation marks in different genomic regions. The mechanisms underlying these two opposite, yet co-existing, alterations in tumors remain unclear. While studying the human MAGEA6/GABRA3 gene locus, we observed that DNA hypomethylation in tumor cells can lead to the activation of a long transcript (CT-GABRA3) that overlaps downstream promoters (GABRQ and GABRA3) and triggers their hypermethylation. Overlapped promoters displayed increases in H3K36me3, a histone mark known to be deposited during progression of the transcription machinery and to stimulate de novo DNA methylation. Consistent with such a processive mechanism, increases in H3K36me3 and DNA methylation were observed over the entire region covered by the CT-GABRA3 overlapping transcript. Importantly, experimental induction of CT-GABRA3 by depletion of DNMT1 DNA methyltransferase, resulted in a similar pattern of increased DNA methylation in the MAGEA6/GABRA3 locus. Bioinformatics analyses in lung cancer datasets identified other genomic loci displaying this process of coupled DNA hypo- and hypermethylation. In several of these loci, DNA hypermethylation affected tumor suppressor genes, e.g. RERG and PTPRO. Together, our work reveals that focal DNA hypomethylation in tumors can indirectly contribute to hypermethylation of nearby promoters through activation of overlapping transcription, and establishes therefore an unsuspected connection between these two opposite epigenetic alterations.


Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 653-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Qu ◽  
Andreas Lennartsson ◽  
Verena I. Gaidzik ◽  
Stefan Deneberg ◽  
Sofia Bengtzén ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 653 DNA methylation is involved in multiple biologic processes including normal cell differentiation and tumorigenesis. In AML, methylation patterns have been shown to differ significantly from normal hematopoietic cells. Most studies of DNA methylation in AML have previously focused on CpG islands within the promoter of genes, representing only a very small proportion of the DNA methylome. In this study, we performed genome-wide methylation analysis of 62 AML patients with CN-AML and CD34 positive cells from healthy controls by Illumina HumanMethylation450K Array covering 450.000 CpG sites in CpG islands as well as genomic regions far from CpG islands. Differentially methylated CpG sites (DMS) between CN-AML and normal hematopoietic cells were calculated and the most significant enrichment of DMS was found in regions more than 4kb from CpG Islands, in the so called open sea where hypomethylation was the dominant form of aberrant methylation. In contrast, CpG islands were not enriched for DMS and DMS in CpG islands were dominated by hypermethylation. DMS successively further away from CpG islands in CpG island shores (up to 2kb from CpG Island) and shelves (from 2kb to 4kb from Island) showed increasing degree of hypomethylation in AML cells. Among regions defined by their relation to gene structures, CpG dinucleotide located in theoretic enhancers were found to be the most enriched for DMS (Chi χ2<0.0001) with the majority of DMS showing decreased methylation compared to CD34 normal controls. To address the relation to gene expression, GEP (gene expression profiling) by microarray was carried out on 32 of the CN-AML patients. Totally, 339723 CpG sites covering 18879 genes were addressed on both platforms. CpG methylation in CpG islands showed the most pronounced anti-correlation (spearman ρ =-0.4145) with gene expression level, followed by CpG island shores (mean spearman rho for both sides' shore ρ=-0.2350). As transcription factors (TFs) have shown to be crucial for AML development, we especially studied differential methylation of an unbiased selection of 1638 TFs. The most enriched differential methylation between CN-AML and normal CD34 positive cells were found in TFs known to be involved in hematopoiesis and with Wilms tumor protein-1 (WT1), activator protein 1 (AP-1) and runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) being the most differentially methylated TFs. The differential methylation in WT 1 and RUNX1 was located in intragenic regions which were confirmed by pyro-sequencing. AML cases were characterized with respect to mutations in FLT3, NPM1, IDH1, IDH2 and DNMT3A. Correlation analysis between genome wide methylation patterns and mutational status showed statistically significant hypomethylation of CpG Island (p<0.0001) and to a lesser extent CpG island shores (p<0.001) and the presence of DNMT3A mutations. This links DNMT3A mutations for the first time to a hypomethylated phenotype. Further analyses correlating methylation patterns to other clinical data such as clinical outcome are ongoing. In conclusion, our study revealed that non-CpG island regions and in particular enhancers are the most aberrantly methylated genomic regions in AML and that WT 1 and RUNX1 are the most differentially methylated TFs. Furthermore, our data suggests a hypomethylated phenotype in DNMT3A mutated AML. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 2189-2189
Author(s):  
Martin F Kaiser ◽  
Alexander Murison ◽  
Charlotte Pawlyn ◽  
Eileen M Boyle ◽  
David C Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Multiple myeloma is a clinically highly heterogeneous disease, which is reflected by both a complex genome and epigenome. Dynamic epigenetic changes are involved at several stages of myeloma biology, such as transformation and disease progression. Our previous genome wide epigenetic analyses identified prognostically relevant DNA hypermethylation at specific tumor suppressor genes (Kaiser MF et al., Blood 2013), indicating that specific epigenetic programming influences clinical behavior. This clinically relevant finding prompted further investigation of the epigenomic structure of myeloma and its interaction with genetic aberrations. Material and Methods Genome wide DNA methylation of CD138-purified myeloma cells from 464 patients enrolled in the NCRI Myeloma XI trial at presentation were analyzed using the high resolution 450k DNA methylation array platform (Illumina). In addition, 4 plasma cell leukemia (PCL) cases (two t(11;14) and two (4;14)) and 7 myeloma cell lines (HMCL) carrying different translocations were analysed. Analyses were performed in R Bioconductor packages after filtering and removal of low quality and non-uniquely mapping probes. Results Variation in genome wide DNA methylation was analyzed using unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the 10,000 most variable probes, which revealed epigenetically defined subgroups of disease. Presence of recurrent IGH translocations was strongly associated with specific epigenetic profiles. All 60 cases with t(4;14) clustered into two highly similar sub-clusters, confirming that overexpression of the H3K36 methyltransferase MMSET in t(4;14) has a defined and specific effect on the myeloma epigenome. Interestingly, HMCLs KMS-11 and LP-1, which carry t(4;14), MM1.S, a t(14;16) cell line with an E1099K MMSET activating mutation as well as two PCLs with t(4;14) all clustered in one sub-clade. The majority (59/85) of t(11;14) cases showed global DNA hypomethylation compared to t(4;14) cases and clustered in one subclade, indicating a epigenetic programming effect associated with CCND1, with a subgroup of t(11;14) cases showing a variable DNA methylation pattern. In addition to translocation-defined subgroups, a small cluster of samples with a distinct epigenetic profile was identified. In total 7 cases with a shared specific DNA methylation pattern (median inter-sample correlation 0.4) were identified. The group was characterized by DNA hypermethylation (4,341 hypermethylated regions vs. 750 hypomethylated regions) in comparison to all other cases. Intersection of regions hypermethylated in this subgroups with ENCODE datasets revealed mapping to poised enhancers and promoters in H1-hESC, indicating functionally relevant epigenetic changes. Gene set enrichment analysis (KEGG) demonstrated enrichment of developmental pathway genes, e.g. Hedgehog signaling (adj p=5x10exp-13), amongst others and all four HOX clusters were differentially methylated in this group. Of note, three of seven cases in this subgroup carried a t(11;14) and all t(11;14) or t(11;14)-like HMCLs clustered closely together with these patient cases, but not with the cluster carrying the majority of t(11;14) myeloma or t(11;14) PCLs. This potentially indicates that t(11;14) HMCL could be derived from a subgroup of patients with specific epigenetic characteristics. Conclusion Our results indicate that the recurrent IGH translocations are fundamentally involved in shaping the myeloma epigenome through either direct upregulation of epigenetic modifiers (e.g. MMSET) or through insufficiently understood mechanisms. However, developmental epigenetic processes seem to independently contribute to the complexity of the epigenome in some cases. This work provides important insights into the spectrum of epigenetic subgroups of myeloma and helps identify subgroups of disease that may benefit from specific epigenetic therapies currently being developed. Disclosures Walker: Onyx Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean S. Fain ◽  
Axelle Loriot ◽  
Anna Diacofotaki ◽  
Aurélie Van Tongelen ◽  
Charles De Smet

AbstractTumor development involves alterations in DNA methylation patterns, which include both gains (hypermethylation) and losses (hypomethylation) in different genomic regions. The mechanisms underlying these two opposite, yet co-existing, alterations in tumors remain unclear. While studying the human MAGEA6/GABRA3 gene locus, we observed that DNA hypomethylation in tumor cells can lead to the activation of a long transcript (CT-GABRA3) that overlaps downstream promoters (GABRQ and GABRA3) and triggers their hypermethylation. Overlapped promoters displayed increases in H3K36me3, a histone mark deposited during transcriptional elongation and known to stimulate de novo DNA methylation. Consistent with such a processive mechanism, increases in H3K36me3 and DNA methylation were observed over the entire region covered by the CT-GABRA3 overlapping transcript. Importantly, experimental induction of CT-GABRA3 by depletion of DNMT1 DNA methyltransferase, resulted in a similar pattern of regional DNA hypermethylation. Bioinformatics analyses in lung cancer datasets identified other genomic loci displaying this process of coupled DNA hypo/hypermethylation, and some of these included tumor suppressor genes, e.g. RERG and PTPRO. Together, our work reveals that focal DNA hypomethylation in tumors can indirectly contribute to hypermethylation of nearby promoters through activation of overlapping transcription, and establishes therefore an unsuspected connection between these two opposite epigenetic alterations.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1115
Author(s):  
Oxana Yu. Naumova ◽  
Rebecca Lipschutz ◽  
Sergey Yu. Rychkov ◽  
Olga V. Zhukova ◽  
Elena L. Grigorenko

Recent research has provided evidence on genome-wide alterations in DNA methylation patterns due to trisomy 21, which have been detected in various tissues of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) across different developmental stages. Here, we report new data on the systematic genome-wide DNA methylation perturbations in blood cells of individuals with DS from a previously understudied age group—young children. We show that the study findings are highly consistent with those from the prior literature. In addition, utilizing relevant published data from two other developmental stages, neonatal and adult, we track a quasi-longitudinal trend in the DS-associated DNA methylation patterns as a systematic epigenomic destabilization with age.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron R Jeffries ◽  
Reza Maroofian ◽  
Claire G. Salter ◽  
Barry A. Chioza ◽  
Harold E. Cross ◽  
...  

AbstractGermline mutations in fundamental epigenetic regulatory molecules including DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) are commonly associated with growth disorders, whereas somatic mutations are often associated with malignancy. We profiled genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in DNMT3A c.2312G>A; p.(Arg771Gln) carriers in a large Amish sibship with Tatton-Brown-Rahman syndrome (TBRS), their mosaic father and 15 TBRS patients with distinct pathogenic de novo DNMT3A variants. This defined widespread DNA hypomethylation at specific genomic sites enriched at locations annotated to genes involved in morphogenesis, development, differentiation, and malignancy predisposition pathways. TBRS patients also displayed highly accelerated DNA methylation aging. Notably, these findings were most striking in a carrier of the AML associated driver mutation p.Arg882Cys. Our studies additionally defined phenotype related accelerated and decelerated epigenetic aging in two histone methyltransferase disorders; NSD1 Sotos syndrome overgrowth disorder and KMT2D Kabuki syndrome growth impairment. Together, our findings provide fundamentally new insights into aberrant epigenetic mechanisms, the role of epigenetic machinery maintenance and determinants of biological aging in these growth disorders.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ireen Klemp ◽  
Anne Hoffmann ◽  
Luise Mueller ◽  
Tobias Hagemann ◽  
Kathrin Horn ◽  
...  

Obesity is driven by modifiable lifestyle factors whose effects may be mediated by epigenetics. Therefore, we investigated lifestyle effects (diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol) on blood DNA methylation in participants of the LIFE-Adult study, a well-characterized population-based cohort from Germany. Fifty subjects with an extremely healthy and 50 with an extremely unhealthy lifestyle were selected for genome-wide DNA methylation analysis in blood samples. Whereas obesity was only marginally related to variability in DNA methylation pattern, comparisons between lifestyle categories resulted in 145 Differentially Methylated Positions (DMPs) and 4682 Differentially Methylated Regions (DMRs) annotated to 4426 unique genes. Intersection analysis showed that diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol intake are equally contributing to the observed differences, which particularly affects pathways related to glutamatergic synapse and axon guidance. DNA methylation patterns help discriminate individuals with a healthy vs. unhealthy lifestyle, which may mask subtle methylation differences derived from obesity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Grob ◽  
DMV Bonnet ◽  
L Tirot ◽  
PE Jullien

AbstractDNA methylation is an important epigenetic mark required for proper gene expression and silencing of transposable elements. DNA methylation patterns can be modified by environmental factors such as pathogen infection, where modification of DNA methylation can be associated with plant resistance. To counter the plant defense pathways, pathogens produce effectors molecule, several of which act as proteasome inhibitors. Here we investigated the effect of proteasome inhibition by the bacterial virulence factor Syringolin A on genome-wide DNA methylation. We show that Syringolin A treatment results in an increase of DNA methylation at centromeric and pericentromeric regions of Arabidopsis chromosomes. We identify several CHH DMRs that are enriched in the proximity of transcriptional start sites. Syringolin A treatment does not result in significant changes in small RNA composition. However, significant changes in genome transcriptional activity can be observed, including a strong upregulation of resistance genes that are located on chromosomal arms. We hypothesize that DNA methylation changes could be linked to the upregulation of some atypical members of the de novo DNA methylation pathway: AGO3, AGO9 and DRM1. Our data suggests that modification of genome-wide DNA methylation resulting from an inhibition of the proteasome by bacterial effectors could be part of a epi-genomic arms race against pathogens.


Blood ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 114 (22) ◽  
pp. 600-600
Author(s):  
Hyang-Min Byun ◽  
Timothy Triche ◽  
Hyeoung-Joon Kim ◽  
Hee Nam Kim ◽  
Yeo-Kyeoung Kim ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 600 Background: Azacitidine is hypothesized to exert its therapeutic effect in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) through inhibition of DNA methylation. However to date no genomic DNA methylation pattern has been shown to predict response to azacitidine in patients with MDS, and no aberrantly silenced gene or group of genes has been shown to be reactivated by azacitidine that can be clearly linked to the beneficial clinical effect. We sought to identify the gene or group of aberrantly hypermethylated genes that are responsible for the therapeutic effect of azacitidine by retrospectively analyzing genome-wide DNA methylation profiles from bone marrow samples of a cohort of 113 patients with MDS treated with the DNA methylation inhibitor, azacitidine. Methods: Bone marrow aspirates were collected at time of diagnosis prior to treatment, after 4 cycles of azacitidine therapy and 8 cycles of therapy. DNA was isolated and bisulfite treated with the EZ-96 DNA Methylation-Gold Kit. DNA methylation analysis was performed on 27,578 CpG sites representing 14,475 genes (almost ¾ of known genes) using the Infinium Bead Array system for samples at the time of diagnosis, 4 and 8 cycles of therapy. Only 19,662 CpG sites were used for further analysis due to exclusion of CpG sites that were on the × chromosome, sites suspected of containing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), and sites within DNA repeats. In total 91 samples were analyzed from 43 patients with MDS, which were selected to represent different disease classifications and responses to therapy, and bone marrow aspirates from 10 healthy control subjects without MDS. Results: Two-way hierarchical cluster analysis showed clear clustering of bone marrow samples taken from subjects without MDS. DNA methylation patterns from healthy controls clustered together, and pre and post azacitidine treatment samples from the same subject clustered together as well. Samples did not cluster by DNA methylation patterns for WHO classification, International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS), cytogenetic abnormalities, or response to azacitidine. Supervised cluster analysis is ongoing. Global decreases in DNA methylation as measured by the average methylation for all 19,662 loci assayed did decrease with treatment and there was a trend for a larger decrease in DNA methylation in those patients who responded to azacitidine. Conclusion: In this pilot study of genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of MDS patients treated with azacitidine we find global decreases of DNA methylation. We were unable to identify a DNA methylation pattern or group of hypermethylated genes that would predict response to azacitidine. MDS samples did not cluster by WHO classification, IPSS or response to azacitidine. Larger translational studies are needed, but the possibility that DNA methylation decreases in patients treated with azacitidine serve as a pharmacological marker rather than a therapeutic target should also be considered Disclosures: Laird: Celgene: Consultancy. Yang:Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.


Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Borchiellini ◽  
Simone Ummarino ◽  
Annalisa Di Ruscio

DNA methylation controls several cellular processes, from early development to old age, including biological responses to endogenous or exogenous stimuli contributing to disease transition. As a result, minimal DNA methylation changes during developmental stages drive severe phenotypes, as observed in germ-line imprinting disorders, while genome-wide alterations occurring in somatic cells are linked to cancer onset and progression. By summarizing the molecular events governing DNA methylation, we focus on the methods that have facilitated mapping and understanding of this epigenetic mark in healthy conditions and diseases. Overall, we review the bright (health-related) and dark (disease-related) side of DNA methylation changes, outlining how bulk and single-cell genomic analyses are moving toward the identification of new molecular targets and driving the development of more specific and less toxic demethylating agents.


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