DNMT3A epigenetically regulates key microRNAs involved in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in prostate cancer.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in prostate cancer (PCa) metastatic progression, and its plasticity suggests epigenetic implications. Deregulation of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and several microRNAs (miRNAs) plays a relevant role in EMT, but their interplay has not been clarified yet. In this study, we provide evidence that DNMT3A interaction with several miRNAs has a central role in an ex vivo EMT PCa model obtained via exposure of PC3 cells to conditioned media from cancer-associated fibroblasts. The analysis of the alterations of the miRNA profile shows that miR-200 family (miR-200a/200b/429, miR-200c/141), miR-205 and miR-203, known to modulate key EMT factors, are down-regulated and hyper-methylated at their promoters. DNMT3A (mainly isoform a) is recruited onto these miRNA promoters, coupled with the increase of H3K27me3/H3K9me3 and/or the decrease of H3K4me3/H3K36me3. Most interestingly, our results reveal the differential expression of two DNMT3A isoforms (a and b) during ex vivo EMT and a regulatory feedback loop between miR-429 and DNMT3A that can promote and sustain the transition towards a more mesenchymal phenotype. We demonstrate the ability of miR-429 to target DNMT3A 3'UTR and modulate the expression of EMT factors, in particular ZEB1. Survey of the PRAD-TCGA dataset shows that patients expressing an EMT-like signature are indeed characterized by down-regulation of the same miRNAs with a diffused hyper-methylation at miR-200c/141 and miR-200a/200b/429 promoters. Finally, we show that miR-1260a also targets DNMT3A, although it does not seem to be involved in EMT in PCa.

Targeted DNA methylation by homology-directed repair in mammalian cells. Transcription reshapes methylation on the repaired gene.

We report that homology-directed repair of a DNA double-strand break within a single copy Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) gene in HeLa cells alters the methylation pattern at the site of recombination. DNA methyl transferase (DNMT)1, DNMT3a and two proteins that regulate methylation, Np95 and GADD45A, are recruited to the site of repair and are responsible for selective methylation of the promoter-distal segment of the repaired DNA. The initial methylation pattern of the locus is modified in a transcription-dependent fashion during the 15-20 days following repair, at which time no further changes in the methylation pattern occur. The variation in DNA modification generates stable clones with wide ranges of GFP expression. Collectively, our data indicate that somatic DNA methylation follows homologous repair and is subjected to remodeling by local transcription in a discrete time window during and after the damage. We propose that DNA methylation of repaired genes represents a DNA damage code and is source of variation of gene expression.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) associates with E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase UHRF1 and modulates UHRF1 biological functions.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1, also known as ARTD1) is an abundant nuclear enzyme that plays important roles in DNA repair, gene transcription, and differentiation through the modulation of chromatin structure and function. In this work we identify a physical and functional poly(ADP-ribose)-mediated interaction of PARP1 with the E3 ubiquitin ligase UHRF1 (also known as NP95, ICBP90) that influences two UHRF1-regulated cellular processes. On the one hand, we uncovered a cooperative interplay between PARP1 and UHRF1 in the accumulation of the heterochromatin repressive mark H4K20me3. The absence of PARP1 led to reduced accumulation of H4K20me3 onto pericentric heterochromatin that coincided with abnormally enhanced transcription. The loss of H4K20me3 was rescued by the additional depletion of UHRF1. In contrast, although PARP1 also seemed to facilitate the association of UHRF1 with DNMT1, its absence did not impair the loading of DNMT1 onto heterochromatin or the methylation of pericentric regions, possibly owing to a compensating interaction of DNMT1 with PCNA. On the other hand, we showed that PARP1 controls the UHRF1-mediated ubiquitination of DNMT1 to timely regulate its abundance during S and G2 phase. Together, this report identifies PARP1 as a novel modulator of two UHRF1-regulated heterochromatin-associated events: the accumulation of H4K20me3 and the clearance of DNMT1.

Knock-down of methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) causes alterations in cell proliferation and nuclear lamins expression in mammalian cells.

BACKGROUND: MeCP2 (CpG-binding protein 2) is a nuclear multifunctional protein involved in several cellular processes, like large-scale chromatin reorganization and architecture, and transcriptional regulation. In recent years, a non-neuronal role for MeCP2 has emerged in cell growth and proliferation. Mutations in the MeCP2 gene have been reported to determine growth disadvantages in cultured lymphocyte cells, and its functional ablation suppresses cell growth in glial cells and proliferation in mesenchymal stem cells and prostate cancer cells. MeCP2 interacts with lamin B receptor (LBR) and with Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1) at the nuclear envelope (NE), suggesting that it could be part of complexes involved in attracting heterochromatin at the nuclear periphery and in mediating gene silencing. The nuclear lamins, major components of the lamina, have a role in maintaining NE integrity, in orchestrating mitosis, in DNA replication and transcription, in regulation of mitosis and apoptosis and in providing anchoring sites for chromatin domains.In this work, we inferred that MeCP2 might have a role in nuclear envelope stability, thereby affecting the proliferation pattern of highly proliferating systems. RESULTS: By performing knock-down (KD) of MeCP2 in normal murine (NIH-3 T3) and in human prostate transformed cells (PC-3 and LNCaP), we observed a strong proliferation decrease and a defect in the cell cycle progression, with accumulation of cells in S/G2M, without triggering a strong apoptotic and senescent phenotype. In these cells, KD of MeCP2 evidenced a considerable decrease of the levels of lamin A, lamin C, lamin B1 and LBR proteins. Moreover, by confocal analysis we confirmed the reduction of lamin A levels, but we also observed an alteration in the shape of the nuclear lamina and an irregular nuclear rim. CONCLUSIONS: Our results that indicate reduced levels of NE components, are consistent with a hypothesis that the deficiency of MeCP2 might cause the lack of a key "bridge" function that links the peripheral heterochromatin to the NE, thereby causing an incorrect assembly of the NE itself, together with a decreased cell proliferation and viability.

Expression and localization studies of hSDA, the human ortholog of the yeast SDA1 gene.

The yeast SDA1 gene was reported to play a critical role in G(1) events and to be involved in 60S ribosome biogenesis. Although the basic cellular mechanisms appear conserved from yeast to man, the human genes may have more diversified functions. In this view we obtained the first experimental evidences about the human ortholog of the yeast SDA1, i.e., hSDA. The gene is localized at the chromosomal region 4q21 and encodes for a 627a.a. long protein highly homologous to the yeast Sda1. Subcellular localization experiments indicate that the human protein behaves similarly to nucleolar proteins involved in rRNA processing machinery but not in RNA PolI transcriptional events. hSda appears localized in the granular component of the nucleolus and in the nucleoplasm, which is consistent with a role in early-intermediate steps of ribosome biogenesis. hSDA appears preferentially expressed in fetal tissues, pinpointing its role during development. Different expression levels in different tumor cell lines might suggest that the gene is involved also in tumorigenesis. However our preliminary results indicate that hSDA does not behave like a proapoptotic gene and its involvement in tumorigenesis is still to be clarified.

The PHD domain of Np95 (mUHRF1) is involved in large-scale reorganization of pericentromeric heterochromatin.

Heterochromatic chromosomal regions undergo large-scale reorganization and progressively aggregate, forming chromocenters. These are dynamic structures that rapidly adapt to various stimuli that influence gene expression patterns, cell cycle progression, and differentiation. Np95-ICBP90 (m- and h-UHRF1) is a histone-binding protein expressed only in proliferating cells. During pericentromeric heterochromatin (PH) replication, Np95 specifically relocalizes to chromocenters where it highly concentrates in the replication factories that correspond to less compacted DNA. Np95 recruits HDAC and DNMT1 to PH and depletion of Np95 impairs PH replication. Here we show that Np95 causes large-scale modifications of chromocenters independently from the H3:K9 and H4:K20 trimethylation pathways, from the expression levels of HP1, from DNA methylation and from the cell cycle. The PHD domain is essential to induce this effect. The PHD domain is also required in vitro to increase access of a restriction enzyme to DNA packaged into nucleosomal arrays. We propose that the PHD domain of Np95-ICBP90 contributes to the opening and/or stabilization of dense chromocenter structures to support the recruitment of modifying enzymes, like HDAC and DNMT1, required for the replication and formation of PH.

Apoptosis promoted by up-regulation of TFPT (TCF3 fusion partner) appears p53 independent, cell type restricted and cell density influenced.

The TFPT/FB1 gene was identified because of its involvement in childhood pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Although its specific function is still unclear, Tfpt has been implicated in cell proliferation and induction of programmed cell death (PCD). Given the critical role of PCD in leukemogenesis, we have investigated the responsiveness of different cell lines to TFPT over expression and the consequent induction of PCD by proliferation kinetic analysis, immunolocalization and TUNEL assay. We have also tested the involvement of factors implicated in cell cycle progression and apoptosis, i.e. caspases, p53, Cdc2. Our results indicate that over expression of TFPT promotes caspase 9-dependent apoptosis, nevertheless the apoptotic cascade is engaged only in culture conditions sustaining cell proliferation and different cell lines display differential responsiveness to TFPT induced apoptosis Although p53 is a main regulator of apoptosis in mammalian cells, the Tfpt induced apoptosis appears p53-independent. These results are discussed relatively to the role played by TFPT in leukemogenesis.