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Epigenetic silencing of the WNT antagonist Dickkopf 3 disrupts normal Wnt/?-catenin signalling and apoptosis regulation in breast cancer cells.

ABSTRACT: Dickkopf-related protein 3 (DKK3) is an antagonist of Wnt ligand activity. Reduced DKK3 expression has been reported in various types of cancers, but its functions and related molecular mechanisms in breast tumorigenesis remain unclear. We examined the expression and promoter methylation of DKK3 in 10 breast cancer cell lines, 96 primary breast tumours, 43 paired surgical margin tissues and 16 normal breast tissues. DKK3 was frequently silenced in breast cell lines (5/10) by promoter methylation, compared with human normal mammary epithelial cells and tissues. DKK3 methylation was detected in 78% of breast tumour samples, whereas only rarely methylated in normal breast and surgical margin tissues, suggesting tumour-specific methylation of DKK3 in breast cancer. Ectopic expression of DKK3 suppressed cell colony formation through inducing G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of breast tumour cells. DKK3 also induced changes of cell morphology, and inhibited breast tumour cell migration through reversing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and down-regulating stem cell markers. DKK3 inhibited canonical Wnt/?-catenin signalling through mediating ?-catenin translocation from nucleus to cytoplasm and membrane, along with reduced active-?-catenin, further activating non-canonical JNK signalling. Thus, our findings demonstrate that DKK3 could function as a tumour suppressor through inducing apoptosis and regulating Wnt signalling during breast tumorigenesis.

SUBMITTER: Xiang T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4159020 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Epigenetic silencing of the WNT antagonist Dickkopf 3 disrupts normal Wnt/β-catenin signalling and apoptosis regulation in breast cancer cells.

Xiang Tingxiu T Li Lili L Yin Xuedong X Zhong Lan L Peng Weiyan W Qiu Zhu Z Ren Guosheng G Tao Qian Q

Journal of cellular and molecular medicine 20130724 10

Dickkopf-related protein 3 (DKK3) is an antagonist of Wnt ligand activity. Reduced DKK3 expression has been reported in various types of cancers, but its functions and related molecular mechanisms in breast tumorigenesis remain unclear. We examined the expression and promoter methylation of DKK3 in 10 breast cancer cell lines, 96 primary breast tumours, 43 paired surgical margin tissues and 16 normal breast tissues. DKK3 was frequently silenced in breast cell lines (5/10) by promoter methylation ...[more]

PMID: 23890219

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Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal disease characterized by late diagnosis and treatment resistance. Recurrent genetic alterations in defined genes in association with perturbations of developmental cell signaling pathways have been associated with PDAC development and progression. Here, we show that GATA6 contributes to pancreatic carcinogenesis during the temporal progression of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia by virtue of Wnt pathway activation. GATA6 is recurrently amplified by both quantitative-PCR and fluorescent in-situ hybridization in human pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia and in PDAC tissues, and GATA6 copy number is significantly correlated with overall patient survival. Forced overexpression of GATA6 in cancer cell lines enhanced cell proliferation and colony formation in soft agar in vitro and growth in vivo, as well as increased Wnt signaling. By contrast siRNA mediated knockdown of GATA6 led to corresponding decreases in these same parameters. The effects of GATA6 were found to be due to its ability to bind DNA, as forced overexpression of a DNA-binding mutant of GATA6 had no effects on cell growth in vitro or in vivo, nor did they affect Wnt signaling levels in these same cells. A microarray analysis revealed the Wnt antagonist Dickopf-1 (DKK1) as a dysregulated gene in association with GATA6 knockdown, and direct binding of GATA6 to the DKK1 promoter was confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Transient transfection of GATA6, but not mutant GATA6, into cancer cell lines led to decreased DKK1 mRNA expression and secretion of DKK1 protein into culture media. Forced overexpression of DKK1 antagonized the effects of GATA6 on Wnt signaling in pancreatic cancer cells. These findings illustrate that one mechanism by which GATA6 promotes pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia is by virtue of its activation of canonical Wnt signaling via regulation of DKK1. AsPC1 and A13A cells were stably transfected with a lentivirus expressing mock shRNA or shRNA to GATA6. Each control/shRNA pair (total 4 samples) was analyzed by two-color microarray and the genes commonly dysregulated in both cell lines identified.

Project description:BackgroundThe Wnt/?-catenin signalling is aberrantly activated in primary B cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Epigenetic silencing of pathway inhibitor genes may be a mechanism for its activation. In this study, we investigated systematically and quantitatively the methylation status of 12 Wnt/?-catenin pathway inhibitor genes - CDH1, DACT1, DKK1, DKK2, DKK3, DKK4, SFRP1, SFRP2, SFRP3, SFRP4, SFRP5 and WIF1 - in the cell lines EHEB and MEC-1 as well as patient samples.MethodsQuantification of DNA methylation was performed by means of bisulphite pyrosequencing and confirmed by bisulphite Sanger sequencing. Gene expression was analysed by qPCR using GAPDH as internal control. E-cadherin and ?-catenin protein quantification was carried out by microsphere-based immunoassays. Methylation differences observed between the patient and control groups were tested using generalised least squares models.ResultsFor 10 genes, a higher methylation level was observed in tumour material. Only DKK4 exhibited similarly high methylation levels in both tumour and normal specimens, while DACT1 was always essentially unmethylated. However, also for these inhibitors, treatment of cells with the demethylating agent 5-aza-2´-deoxycytidine resulted in an induction of their expression, as shown by quantitative PCR, suggesting an indirect epigenetic control of activity. While the degree of demethylation and its transcriptional consequences differed between the genes, there was an overall high correlation of demethylation and increased activity. Protein expression studies revealed that no constitutive Wnt/?-catenin signalling occurred in the cell lines, which is in discrepancy with results from primary CLL. However, treatment with 5-aza-2´-deoxycytidine caused accumulation of ?-catenin. Simultaneously, E-cadherin expression was strongly induced, leading to the formation of a complex with ?-catenin and thus demonstrating its epigenetically regulated inhibition effect.ConclusionsThe results suggest an epigenetic silencing mechanism of the Wnt/?-catenin pathway inhibitor genes in CLL. Hypermethylation and silencing of functionally related genes may not be completely stochastic but result from the tumour epigenome reprogramming orchestrated by Polycomb-group repressive complexes. The data are of interest in the context of epigenetic-based therapy.

Dataset Information

Epigenetic silencing of the WNT antagonist Dickkopf 3 disrupts normal Wnt/?-catenin signalling and apoptosis regulation in breast cancer cells.

Publications

Epigenetic silencing of the WNT antagonist Dickkopf 3 disrupts normal Wnt/β-catenin signalling and apoptosis regulation in breast cancer cells.

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