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Epigenetic evolution and lineage histories of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

ABSTRACT: Genetic and epigenetic intra-tumoral heterogeneity cooperate to shape the evolutionary course of cancer1. Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a highly informative model for cancer evolution as it undergoes substantial genetic diversification and evolution after therapy2,3. The CLL epigenome is also an important disease-defining feature4,5, and growing populations of cells in CLL diversify by stochastic changes in DNA methylation known as epimutations6. However, previous studies using bulk sequencing methods to analyse the patterns of DNA methylation were unable to determine whether epimutations affect CLL populations homogeneously. Here, to measure the epimutation rate at single-cell resolution, we applied multiplexed single-cell reduced-representation bisulfite sequencing to B cells from healthy donors and patients with CLL. We observed that the common clonal origin of CLL results in a consistently increased epimutation rate, with low variability in the cell-to-cell epimutation rate. By contrast, variable epimutation rates across healthy B cells reflect diverse evolutionary ages across the trajectory of B cell differentiation, consistent with epimutations serving as a molecular clock. Heritable epimutation information allowed us to reconstruct lineages at high-resolution with single-cell data, and to apply this directly to patient samples. The CLL lineage tree shape revealed earlier branching and longer branch lengths than in normal B cells, reflecting rapid drift after the initial malignant transformation and a greater proliferative history. Integration of single-cell bisulfite sequencing analysis with single-cell transcriptomes and genotyping confirmed that genetic subclones mapped to distinct clades, as inferred solely on the basis of epimutation information. Finally, to examine potential lineage biases during therapy, we profiled serial samples during ibrutinib-associated lymphocytosis, and identified clades of cells that were preferentially expelled from the lymph node after treatment, marked by distinct transcriptional profiles. The single-cell integration of genetic, epigenetic and transcriptional information thus charts the lineage history of CLL and its evolution with therapy.

SUBMITTER: Gaiti F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6533116 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Epigenetic evolution and lineage histories of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Gaiti Federico F Chaligne Ronan R Gu Hongcang H Brand Ryan M RM Kothen-Hill Steven S Schulman Rafael C RC Grigorev Kirill K Risso Davide D Kim Kyu-Tae KT Pastore Alessandro A Huang Kevin Y KY Alonso Alicia A Sheridan Caroline C Omans Nathaniel D ND Biederstedt Evan E Clement Kendell K Wang Lili L Felsenfeld Joshua A JA Bhavsar Erica B EB Aryee Martin J MJ Allan John N JN Furman Richard R Gnirke Andreas A Wu Catherine J CJ Meissner Alexander A Landau Dan A DA

Nature 20190515 7757

Genetic and epigenetic intra-tumoral heterogeneity cooperate to shape the evolutionary course of cancer1. Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a highly informative model for cancer evolution as it undergoes substantial genetic diversification and evolution after therapy2,3. The CLL epigenome is also an important disease-defining feature4,5, and growing populations of cells in CLL diversify by stochastic changes in DNA methylation known as epimutations6</su ...[more]

PMID: 31092926

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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 evolution and lineage histories of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Publications

Epigenetic evolution and lineage histories of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

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