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DNA hypermethylation within TERT promoter upregulates TERT expression in cancer.

ABSTRACT: Replicative immortality is a hallmark of cancer cells governed by telomere maintenance. Approximately 90% of human cancers maintain their telomeres by activating telomerase, driven by the transcriptional upregulation of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). Although TERT promoter mutations (TPMs) are a major cancer-associated genetic mechanism of TERT upregulation, many cancers exhibit TERT upregulation without TPMs. In this study, we describe the TERT hypermethylated oncological region (THOR), a 433-bp genomic region encompassing 52 CpG sites located immediately upstream of the TERT core promoter, as a cancer-associated epigenetic mechanism of TERT upregulation. Unmethylated THOR repressed TERT promoter activity regardless of TPM status, and hypermethylation of THOR counteracted this repressive function. THOR methylation analysis in 1,352 human tumors revealed frequent (>45%) cancer-associated DNA hypermethylation in 9 of 11 (82%) tumor types screened. Additionally, THOR hypermethylation, either independently or along with TPMs, accounted for how approximately 90% of human cancers can aberrantly activate telomerase. Thus, we propose that THOR hypermethylation is a prevalent telomerase-activating mechanism in cancer that can act independently of or in conjunction with TPMs, further supporting the utility of THOR hypermethylation as a prognostic biomarker.

SUBMITTER: Lee DD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6307937 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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DNA hypermethylation within TERT promoter upregulates TERT expression in cancer.

Lee Donghyun D DD Leão Ricardo R Komosa Martin M Gallo Marco M Zhang Cindy H CH Lipman Tatiana T Remke Marc M Heidari Abolfazl A Nunes Nuno Miguel NM Apolónio Joana D JD Price Aryeh J AJ De Mello Ramon Andrade RA Dias João S JS Huntsman David D Hermanns Thomas T Wild Peter J PJ Vanner Robert R Zadeh Gelareh G Karamchandani Jason J Das Sunit S Taylor Michael D MD Hawkins Cynthia E CE Wasserman Jonathan D JD Figueiredo Arnaldo A Hamilton Robert J RJ Minden Mark D MD Wani Khalida K Diplas Bill B Yan Hai H Aldape Kenneth K Akbari Mohammad R MR Danesh Arnavaz A Pugh Trevor J TJ Dirks Peter B PB Castelo-Branco Pedro P Tabori Uri U

The Journal of clinical investigation 20181203 1

Replicative immortality is a hallmark of cancer cells governed by telomere maintenance. Approximately 90% of human cancers maintain their telomeres by activating telomerase, driven by the transcriptional upregulation of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). Although TERT promoter mutations (TPMs) are a major cancer-associated genetic mechanism of TERT upregulation, many cancers exhibit TERT upregulation without TPMs. In this study, we describe the TERT hypermethylated oncological region (THOR ...[more]

PMID: 30358567

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Project description:BackgroundThe E-cadherin gene (CDH1) maps, at chromosome 16q22.1, a region often associated with loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in human breast cancer. LOH at this site is thought to lead to loss of function of this tumor suppressor gene and was correlated with decreased disease-free survival, poor prognosis, and metastasis. Differential CpG island methylation in the promoter region of the CDH1 gene might be an alternative way for the loss of expression and function of E-cadherin, leading to loss of tissue integrity, an essential step in tumor progression.MethodsThe aim of our study was to assess, by Methylation-Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (MSP), the methylation pattern of the CDH1 gene and its possible correlation with the expression of E-cadherin and other standard immunohistochemical parameters (Her-2, ER, PgR, p53, and K-67) in a series of 79 primary breast cancers (71 infiltrating ductal, 5 infiltrating lobular, 1 metaplastic, 1 apocrine, and 1 papillary carcinoma).ResultsCDH1 hypermethylation was observed in 72% of the cases including 52/71 ductal, 4/5 lobular carcinomas and 1 apocrine carcinoma. Reduced levels of E-cadherin protein were observed in 85% of our samples. Although not statistically significant, the levels of E-cadherin expression tended to diminish with the CDH1 promoter region methylation. In the group of 71 ductal cancinomas, most of the cases of showing CDH1 hypermethylation also presented reduced levels of expression of ER and PgR proteins, and a possible association was observed between CDH1 methylation and ER expression (p = 0.0301, Fisher's exact test). However, this finding was not considered significant after Bonferroni correction of p-value.ConclusionOur preliminary findings suggested that abnormal CDH1 methylation occurs in high frequencies in infiltrating breast cancers associated with a decrease in E-cadherin expression in a subgroup of cases characterized by loss of expression of other important genes to the mammary carcinogenesis process, probably due to the disruption of the mechanism of maintenance of DNA methylation in tumoral cells.

Project description:BackgroundPoly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) and the balance between BRCA1 and 53BP1 play a key role in the DNA repair and cell stress response. PARP inhibitors show promising clinical activity in metastatic triple negative (TN) or BRCA-mutated breast cancer. However, a comprehensive analysis of PARP-1 activity, BRCA1 promoter methylation and 53BP1 expression in tumours without known BRCA1 mutation has not yet been carried out.MethodsWe investigated cytosolic PARP-1 activity, 53BP1 protein levels and BRCA1 promoter methylation in 155 surgical breast tumour samples from patients without familial breast cancer history or known BRCA1 mutations who were treated between January 2006 and November 2009 and evaluated their statistical association with classical predictive and prognostic factors.ResultsThe mitotic count score was the only parameter clearly associated with PARP-1 activity. BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation (15.4% of all cancers) was significantly associated with uPA and PAI-1 levels, tumour grade, mitotic count score, hormone receptor and HER2 negative status and TN profile (29% of TN tumours showed BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation compared to 5% of grade II-III hormone receptor-positive/HER2-negative and 2% of HER2-positive tumours). No statistical association was found between BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation and PARP-1 activity. High 53BP1 protein levels correlated with lymph node positivity, hormone receptor positivity, molecular grouping, unmethylated BRCA1 promoter and PARP-1 activity. In TN tumours, BRCA1 promoter methylation was only marginally associated with age, PARP-1 activity was not associated with any of the tested clinico-pathological factors and high 53BP1 protein levels were significantly associated with lymph node positivity. Only 3 of the 14 TN tumours with BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation presented high 53BP1 protein levels.ConclusionsBreast cancers that harbour simultaneously high 53BP1 protein level and BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation and are the putative target population of drugs targeting DNA repair appear to be restricted to a small subgroup of TN tumours.

Dataset Information

DNA hypermethylation within TERT promoter upregulates TERT expression in cancer.

Publications

DNA hypermethylation within TERT promoter upregulates TERT expression in cancer.

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