RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) removes methyl adducts from O(6)-guanine. Known as methylation tolerance, selection for mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient cells that are unable to initiate lethal processing of O(6)-methylguanine-induced mismatches in DNA is observed in vitro as a consequence of MGMT deficiency. It was therefore hypothesised that an MGMT field defect may constitute a preneoplastic event for the development of MMR-deficient tumours displaying microsatellite instability (MSI). METHODS: MGMT expression was investigated by immunohistochemistry and the methylation status of the gene promoter by PCR in neoplastic, adjacent and distant mucosal tissues of patients with MSI or non-MSI (MSS) colorectal cancer (CRC). The cancers were familial (42 MSI, 13 MSS) or sporadic (40 MSI, 49 MSS) in origin, or arose in the context of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; 13 MSI, 36 MSS). Colonic mucosa from patients with diverticulitis (n=20) or IBD (n=39 in 27 patients) without cancer served as controls. RESULTS: Loss of MGMT expression was more frequent in MSI than MSS CRC (p=0.047). In comparison with MSS tumours, MSI CRC occurred more frequently adjacent to patches of mucosa that lacked MGMT expression (p=0.002). Overall, loss of MGMT expression was associated with MGMT gene promoter methylation (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: MGMT field defects are more frequently associated with MSI than MSS CRC. These findings indicate that methylation tolerance may be a crucial initiating step prior to MMR deficiency in the development of MSI CRC in familial, sporadic and IBD settings.
Assuntos
Neoplasias Colorretais/genética , Metilação de DNA , Reparo de Erro de Pareamento de DNA , DNA de Neoplasias/genética , O(6)-Metilguanina-DNA Metiltransferase/genética , Proteínas Adaptadoras de Transdução de Sinal/genética , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Neoplasias Colorretais/enzimologia , Neoplasias Colorretais/patologia , Feminino , Humanos , Mucosa Intestinal/enzimologia , Masculino , Instabilidade de Microssatélites , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Proteína 1 Homóloga a MutL , Mutação , Estadiamento de Neoplasias , Proteínas Nucleares/genética , O(6)-Metilguanina-DNA Metiltransferase/metabolismo , Lesões Pré-Cancerosas/genética , Regiões Promotoras Genéticas/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas B-raf/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras) , Adulto Jovem , Proteínas ras/genéticaRESUMO
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a frequent cause of mental retardation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying brain development defects induced by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy are unclear. We used normal and Hsf2-deficient mice and cell systems to uncover a pivotal role for heat shock factor 2 (HSF2) in radial neuronal migration defects in the cortex, a hallmark of fetal alcohol exposure. Upon fetal alcohol exposure, HSF2 is essential for the triggering of HSF1 activation, which is accompanied by distinctive post-translational modifications, and HSF2 steers the formation of atypical alcohol-specific HSF1-HSF2 heterocomplexes. This perturbs the in vivo binding of HSF2 to heat shock elements (HSEs) in genes that control neuronal migration in normal conditions, such as p35 or the MAPs (microtubule-associated proteins, such as Dclk1 and Dcx), and alters their expression. In the absence of HSF2, migration defects as well as alterations in gene expression are reduced. Thus, HSF2, as a sensor for alcohol stress in the fetal brain, acts as a mediator of the neuronal migration defects associated with FASD.