Dopamine signaling leads to loss of Polycomb repression and aberrant gene activation in experimental parkinsonism.

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins bind to and repress genes in embryonic stem cells through lineage commitment to the terminal differentiated state. PcG repressed genes are commonly characterized by the presence of the epigenetic histone mark H3K27me3, catalyzed by the Polycomb repressive complex 2. Here, we present in vivo evidence for a previously unrecognized plasticity of PcG-repressed genes in terminally differentiated brain neurons of parkisonian mice. We show that acute administration of the dopamine precursor, L-DOPA, induces a remarkable increase in H3K27me3S28 phosphorylation. The induction of the H3K27me3S28p histone mark specifically occurs in medium spiny neurons expressing dopamine D1 receptors and is dependent on Msk1 kinase activity and DARPP-32-mediated inhibition of protein phosphatase-1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments showed that increased H3K27me3S28p was accompanied by reduced PcG binding to regulatory regions of genes. An analysis of the genome wide distribution of L-DOPA-induced H3K27me3S28 phosphorylation by ChIP sequencing (ChIP-seq) in combination with expression analysis by RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) showed that the induction of H3K27me3S28p correlated with increased expression of a subset of PcG repressed genes. We found that induction of H3K27me3S28p persisted during chronic L-DOPA administration to parkisonian mice and correlated with aberrant gene expression. We propose that dopaminergic transmission can activate PcG repressed genes in the adult brain and thereby contribute to long-term maladaptive responses including the motor complications, or dyskinesia, caused by prolonged administration of L-DOPA in Parkinson's disease.

Comprehensive SNP array study of frequently used neuroblastoma cell lines; copy neutral loss of heterozygosity is common in the cell lines but uncommon in primary tumors.

BACKGROUND: Copy neutral loss of heterozygosity (CN-LOH) refers to a special case of LOH occurring without any resulting loss in copy number. These alterations is sometimes seen in tumors as a way to inactivate a tumor suppressor gene and have been found to be important in several types of cancer. RESULTS: We have used high density single nucleotide polymorphism arrays in order to investigate the frequency and distribution of CN-LOH and other allelic imbalances in neuroblastoma (NB) tumors and cell lines. Our results show that the frequency of these near-CN-LOH events is significantly higher in the cell lines compared to the primary tumors and that the types of CN-LOH differ between the groups. We also show that the low-risk neuroblastomas that are generally considered to have a "triploid karyotype" often present with a complex numerical karyotype (no segmental changes) with 2-5 copies of each chromosome. Furthermore a comparison has been made between the three related cell lines SK-N-SH, SH-EP and SH-SY5Y with respect to overall genetic aberrations, and several aberrations unique to each of the cell lines has been found. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that the NB tumors analyzed contain several interesting allelic imbalances that would either go unnoticed or be misinterpreted using other genome-wide techniques. These findings indicate that the genetics underlying NB might be even more complex than previously known and that SNP arrays are important analysis tools. We have also showed that these near-CN-LOH events are more frequently seen in NB cell lines compared to NB tumors and that a set of highly related cell lines have continued to evolve secondary to the subcloning event. Taken together our analysis highlights that cell lines in many cases differ substantially from the primary tumors they are thought to represent, and that caution should be taken when drawing conclusions from cell line-based studies.

MYCN amplicon junctions as tumor-specific targets for minimal residual disease detection in neuroblastoma.

The MYCN gene is frequently amplified in unfavorable neuroblastoma tumors. Therefore, this study aimed at characterizing the novel junctions connecting the amplified DNA segments (amplicons) and obtaining tumor-specific PCR fragments for use in detecting minimal residual disease (MRD). High-density SNP arrays were used to map the end-points of the MYCN amplicons in a subset of neuroblastoma tumors. Primers were designed to give rise to a tumor-specific PCR product and were examined for MRD in the blood and bone marrow using quantitative PCR. Tumor-specific junction fragments were detected in all cases, confirming a head-to-tail tandem orientation of the amplicons and revealing microhomology at the amplicon junctions, thus suggesting a rolling circle caused by microhomology-mediated break-induced replication (MMBIR) as a possible mechanism initiating the MYCN amplification. We also evaluated the use of these junctions as tumor-specific targets for detecting MRD and observed that tumor DNA could be readily detected and quantified in either blood or bone marrow at a sensitivity of 1/106 tumor/control DNA. This study provides new information on the mechanisms of oncogene amplification and envisages means of rapidly obtaining highly sensitive PCR-based tools for tumor/patient-specific monitoring of treatment response and the early detection of relapse in patients with neuroblastoma.

High-risk neuroblastoma tumors with 11q-deletion display a poor prognostic, chromosome instability phenotype with later onset.

Analysis of chromosomal aberrations is used to determine the prognosis of neuroblastomas (NBs) and to aid treatment decisions. MYCN amplification (MNA) alone is an incomplete poor prognostic factor, and chromosome 11q status has recently been included in risk classification. We analyzed 165 NB tumors using high-density SNP microarrays and specifically compared the high-risk groups defined by MNA (n = 37) and 11q-deletion (n = 21). Median patient age at diagnosis was 21 months for MNA tumors and 42 months for 11q-deletion tumors, and median survival time after diagnosis was 16 months for MNA and 40 months for 11q deletion. Overall survival (at 8 years) was approximately 35% in both groups. MNA and 11q deletion were almost mutually exclusive; only one case harbored both aberrations. The numbers of segmental aberrations differed significantly; the MNA group had a median of four aberrations, whereas the 11q-deletion group had 12. The high frequency of chromosomal breaks in the 11q-deletion group is suggestive of a chromosomal instability phenotype gene located in 11q; one such gene, H2AFX, is located in 11q23.3 (within the 11q-deletion region). Furthermore, in the groups with segmental aberrations without MNA or 11q deletion, the tumors with 17q gain have worse prognosis than those with segmental aberrations without 17q gain, which have a favorable outcome. This study has implications for therapy in different risk groups and stresses that genome-wide microarray analyses should be included in clinical management to fully evaluate risk, aid diagnosis, and guide treatment.