ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to assess the effects of DNA methylation and histone acetylation, alone or in combination, on the expression of several tumor-associated genes and cell cycle progression in two established human colon cancer cell lines: Colo-320 and SW1116. Treatments with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) and trichostatin A, alone or in combination, were applied respectively. The methylation status of the CDKN2A promoter was determined by methylation-specific PCR, and the acetylated status of the histones associated with the p21WAF1 and CDKN2A genes was examined by chromatin immunoprecipitation. The expression of the CDKN2A, p21WAF1, p53, p73, APC, c-myc, c-Ki-ras and survivin genes was detected by real-time RT-PCR and RT-PCR. The cell cycle profile was established by flow cytometry.
We found that along with the demethylation of the CDKN2A gene promoter in both cell lines induced by 5-aza-dC alone or in combination with TSA, the expression of both CDKN2A and APC genes increased. The treatment of TSA or sodium butyrate up-regulated the transcription of p21WAF1 significantly by inducing the acetylation of histones H4 and H3, but failed to alter the acetylation level of CDKN2A-associated histones. No changes in transcription of p53, p73, c-myc, c-Ki-ras and survivin genes were observed. In addition, TSA or sodium butyrate was shown to arrest cells at the G1 phase. However, 5-aza-dC was not able to affect the cell cycle progression. In conclusion, regulation by epigenetic modification of the transcription of tumor-associated genes and the cell cycle progression in both human colon cancer cell lines Colo-320 and SW1116 is gene-specific.
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Abbreviations
- 5-aza-dC:
-
5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine
- HAT:
-
histone acetyltransferase
- HDAC:
-
histone deacetylase
- APC:
-
adenomatous polyposis coli
- TSA:
-
trichostatin A
- SCFA:
-
short chain fatty acid
- CDK:
-
cyclin-dependent kinase
- CDKI:
-
cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor
- Dnmt1:
-
DNA methyltransferase 1
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Acknowledgements
We thank Ms. Hong Yu LUO and Ms. Guan Feng SHEN for performing the FCM, and Dr. Xie Ning WU for his assistance in preparing this manuscript. This work was supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30170413), the Foundation for Jing Yuan FANG of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China (No. 199946) and the Foundation of Shanghai Education Committee (Shuguang Plan, No. 02SG45).
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FANG, J., CHEN, Y., LU, J. et al. Epigenetic modification regulates both expression of tumor-associated genes and cell cycle progressing in human colon cancer cell lines: Colo-320 and SW1116. Cell Res 14, 217–226 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cr.7290222
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cr.7290222
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