ABSTRACT
Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is a rare, autosomal dominant, hereditary cancer predisposition disorder. In Brazil, the p.R337H TP53 founder mutation causes the variant form of LFS, Li-Fraumeni-like syndrome. The occurrence of cancer and age of disease onset are known to vary, even in patients carrying the same mutation, and several mechanisms such as genetic and epigenetic alterations may be involved in this variability. However, the extent of involvement of such events has not been clarified. It is well established that p53 regulates several pathways, including the thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) pathway, which regulates the DNA methylation of several genes. This study aimed to identify the DNA methylation pattern of genes potentially related to the TDG pathway (CDKN2A, FOXA1, HOXD8, OCT4, SOX2, and SOX17) in 30 patients with germline TP53 mutations, 10 patients with wild-type TP53, and 10 healthy individuals. We also evaluated TDG expression in patients with adrenocortical tumors (ADR) with and without the p.R337H TP53 mutation. Gene methylation patterns of peripheral blood DNA samples assessed by pyrosequencing revealed no significant differences between the three groups. However, increased TDG expression was observed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR in p.R337H carriers with ADR. Considering the rarity of this phenotype and the relevance of these findings, further studies using a larger sample set are necessary to confirm our results.
Subject(s)
DNA Methylation/genetics , Germ-Line Mutation/genetics , Li-Fraumeni Syndrome/genetics , Thymine DNA Glycosylase/genetics , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/genetics , Case-Control Studies , DNA Mutational Analysis , Gene Expression Regulation , Genetic Association Studies , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Humans , Reference Values , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain ReactionABSTRACT
Thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) belongs to the superfamily of uracil DNA glycosylases (UDG) and is the first enzyme in the base-excision repair pathway (BER) that removes thymine from G:T mismatches at CpG sites. This glycosylase activity has also been found to be critical for active demethylation of genes involved in embryonic development. Here we show that wild-type p53 transcriptionally regulates TDG expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and luciferase assays indicate that wild-type p53 binds to a domain of TDG promoter containing two p53 consensus response elements (p53RE) and activates its transcription. Next, we have used a panel of cell lines with different p53 status to demonstrate that TDG mRNA and protein expression levels are induced in a p53-dependent manner under different conditions. This panel includes isogenic breast and colorectal cancer cell lines with wild-type or inactive p53, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines lacking p53 or expressing a temperature-sensitive p53 mutant and normal human bronchial epithelial cells. Induction of TDG mRNA expression is accompanied by accumulation of TDG protein in both nucleus and cytoplasm, with nuclear re-localization occurring upon DNA damage in p53-competent, but not -incompetent, cells. These observations suggest a role for p53 activity in TDG nuclear translocation. Overall, our results show that TDG expression is directly regulated by p53, suggesting that loss of p53 function may affect processes mediated by TDG, thus negatively impacting on genetic and epigenetic stability.