• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.17.1-17.13
• /
• 2021

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer in women all over the world and accounts for ~25% of newly observed cancers in women. Epigenetic modifications influence differential expression of genes through non-coding RNA and play a crucial role in cancer regulation. In the present study, epigenetic regulation of gene expression by in-silico analysis of histone modifications using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) has been carried out. Histone modification data of H3K4me3 from one normal-like and four breast cancer cell lines were used to predict miRNA expression at the promoter level. Predicted miRNA promoters (based on ChIP-Seq) were used as a probe to identify gene targets. Five triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)-specific miRNAs (miR153-1, miR4767, miR4487, miR6720, and miR-LET7I) were identified and corresponding 13 gene targets were predicted. Eight miRNA promoter peaks were predicted to be differentially expressed in at least three breast cancer cell lines (miR4512, miR6791, miR330, miR3180-3, miR6080, miR5787, miR6733, and miR3613). A total of 44 gene targets were identified based on the 3'-untranslated regions of downregulated mRNA genes that contain putative binding targets to these eight miRNAs. These include 17 and 15 genes in luminal-A type and TNBC respectively, that have been reported to be associated with breast cancer regulation. Of the remaining 12 genes, seven (A4GALT, C2ORF74, HRCT1, ZC4H2, ZNF512, ZNF655, and ZNF608) show similar relative expression profiles in large patient samples and other breast cancer cell lines thereby giving insight into predicted role of H3K4me3 mediated gene regulation via the miRNA-mRNA axis.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• 제43권1호
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2019

Background: Korean ginseng is an important cash crop in Asian countries. However, plant yield is reduced by pathogens. Among the Ilyonectria radicicola-species complex, I. mors-panacis is responsible for root-rot and replant failure of ginseng in Asia. The development of new methods to reveal the existence of the pathogen before cultivation is started is essential. Therefore, a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method was developed to detect and quantify the pathogen in ginseng soils. Methods: In this study, a species-specific histone H3 primer set was developed for the quantification of I. mors-panacis. The primer set was used on DNA from other microbes to evaluate its sensitivity and selectivity for I. mors-panacis DNA. Sterilized soil samples artificially infected with the pathogen at different concentrations were used to evaluate the ability of the primer set to detect the pathogen population in the soil DNA. Finally, the pathogen was quantified in many natural soil samples. Results: The designed primer set was found to be sensitive and selective for I. mors-panacis DNA. In artificially infected sterilized soil samples, using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction the estimated amount of template was positively correlated with the pathogen concentration in soil samples ($R^2=0.95$), disease severity index ($R^2=0.99$), and colony-forming units ($R^2=0.87$). In natural soils, the pathogen was recorded in most fields producing bad yields at a range of $5.82{\pm}2.35pg/g$ to $892.34{\pm}103.70pg/g$ of soil. Conclusion: According to these results, the proposed primer set is applicable for estimating soil quality before ginseng cultivation. This will contribute to disease management and crop protection in the future.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제27권2호
• /
• pp.231-239
• /
• 2019

Suppressor of Variegation 3-9 Homolog 2 (SUV39H2) methylates the lysine 9 residue of histone H3 and induces heterochromatin formation, resulting in transcriptional repression or silencing of target genes. SUV39H1 and SUV39H2 have a role in embryonic development, and SUV39H1 was shown to suppress cell cycle progression associated with Rb. However, the function of human SUV39H2 has not been extensively studied. We observed that forced expression of SUV39H2 decreased cell proliferation by inducing $G_1$ cell cycle arrest. In addition, SUV39H2 was degraded through the ubiquitin-proteasomal pathway. Using yeast two-hybrid screening to address the degradation mechanism and function of SUV39H2, we identified translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) as an SUV39H2-interacting molecule. Mapping of the interacting regions indicated that the N-terminal 60 amino acids (aa) of full-length SUV39H2 and the C-terminus of TCTP (120-172 aa) were critical for binding. The interaction of SUV39H2 and TCTP was further confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence staining for colocalization. Moreover, depletion of TCTP by RNAi led to up-regulation of SUV39H2 protein, while TCTP overexpression reduced SUV39H2 protein level. The half-life of SUV39H2 protein was significantly extended upon TCTP depletion. These results clearly indicate that TCTP negatively regulates the expression of SUV39H2 post-translationally. Furthermore, SUV39H2 induced apoptotic cell death in TCTP-knockdown cells. Taken together, we identified SUV39H2, as a novel target protein of TCTP and demonstrated that SUV39H2 regulates cell proliferation of lung cancer cells.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• 제17권1호
• /
• pp.13-31
• /
• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Epigenetic regulation by nutrients can influence the development of specific diseases. This study sought to examine the effect of individual nutrients and nutrient families in the context of preventing chronic metabolic diseases via epigenetic regulation. The inhibition of lipid accumulation and inflammation by nutrients including proteins, lipids, vitamins, and minerals were observed, and histone acetylation by histone acetyltransferase (HAT) was measured. Correlative analyses were also performed. MATERIALS/METHODS: Nutrients were selected according to information from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Selected nutrient functionalities, including the attenuation of fatty acid-induced lipid accumulation and lipopolysaccharide-mediated acute inflammation were evaluated in mouse macrophage Raw264.7 and mouse hepatocyte AML-12 cells. Effects of the selected nutrients on in vitro HAT inhibition were also evaluated. RESULTS: Nitric oxide (NO) production correlated with HAT activity, which was regulated by the amino acids group, suggesting that amino acids potentially contribute to the attenuation of NO production via the inhibition of HAT activity. Unsaturated fatty acids tended to attenuate inflammation by inhibiting NO production, which may be attributable to the inhibition of in vitro HAT activity. In contrast to water-soluble vitamins, the lipid-soluble vitamins significantly decreased NO production. Water- and lipid-soluble vitamins both exhibited significant inhibitory activities against HAT. In addition, calcium and manganese significantly inhibited lipid accumulation, NO production, and HAT activity. CONCLUSIONS: Several candidate nutrients and their family members may have roles in the prevention of diseases, including hepatic steatosis and inflammation-related diseases (i.e., nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) via epigenetic regulation. Further studies are warranted to determine which specific amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids and lipid-soluble vitamins or specific minerals influence the development of steatosis and inflammatory-related diseases.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제56권3호
• /
• pp.178-183
• /
• 2023

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, of which pathogenesis is caused by a polyglutamine expansion in the amino-terminus of huntingtin gene that resulted in the aggregation of mutant HTT proteins. HD is characterized by progressive motor dysfunction, cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric disturbances. Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), a microtubule-associated deacetylase, has been shown to induce transport- and release-defect phenotypes in HD models, whilst treatment with HDAC6 inhibitors ameliorates the phenotypic effects of HD by increasing the levels of α-tubulin acetylation, as well as decreasing the accumulation of mutant huntingtin (mHTT) aggregates, suggesting HDAC6 inhibitor as a HD therapeutics. In this study, we employed in vitro neural stem cell (NSC) model and in vivo YAC128 transgenic (TG) mouse model of HD to test the effect of a novel HDAC6 selective inhibitor, CKD-504, developed by Chong Kun Dang (CKD Pharmaceutical Corp., Korea). We found that treatment of CKD-504 increased tubulin acetylation, microtubule stabilization, axonal transport, and the decrease of mutant huntingtin protein in vitro. From in vivo study, we observed CKD-504 improved the pathology of Huntington's disease: alleviated behavioral deficits, increased axonal transport and number of neurons, restored synaptic function in corticostriatal (CS) circuit, reduced mHTT accumulation, inflammation and tau hyperphosphorylation in YAC128 TG mouse model. These novel results highlight CKD-504 as a potential therapeutic strategy in HD.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제56권2호
• /
• pp.114-119
• /
• 2023

Liver fibrosis is caused by chronic liver damage and results in the aberrant accumulation of extracellular matrix during disease progression. Despite the identification of the HAT enzyme p300 as a major factor for liver fibrosis, the development of therapeutic agents targeting the regulation of p300 has not been reported. We validated a novel p300 inhibitor (A6) on the improvement of liver fibrosis using two mouse models, mice on a choline-deficient high-fat diet and thioacetamide-treated mice. We demonstrated that pathological hall-marks of liver fibrosis were significantly diminished by A6 treatment through Masson's trichrome and Sirius red staining on liver tissue and found that A6 treatment reduced the expression of matricellular protein genes. We further showed that A6 treatment improved liver fibrosis by reducing the stability of p300 protein via disruption of p300 binding to AKT. Our findings suggest that targeting p300 through the specific inhibitor A6 has potential as a major therapeutic avenue for treating liver fibrosis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제32권1호
• /
• pp.115-122
• /
• 2024

Heat shock protein (HSP) 90 is expressed in most living organisms, and several client proteins of HSP90 are necessary for cancer cell survival and growth. Previously, we found that HSP90 was cleaved by histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and proteasome inhibitors, and the cleavage of HSP90 contributes to their cytotoxicity in K562 leukemia cells. In this study, we first established mouse xenograft models with K562 cells expressing the wild-type or cleavage-resistant mutant HSP90β and found that the suppression of tumor growth by the HDAC inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) was interrupted by the mutation inhibiting the HSP90 cleavage in vivo. Next, we investigated the possible function of thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP) in the HSP90 cleavage induced by SAHA. TXNIP is a negative regulator for thioredoxin, an antioxidant protein. SAHA transcriptionally induced the expression of TXNIP in K562 cells. HSP90 cleavage was induced by SAHA also in the thymocytes of normal mice and suppressed by an anti-oxidant and pan-caspase inhibitor. When the thymocytes from the TXNIP knockout mice and their wild-type littermate control mice were treated with SAHA, the HSP90 cleavage was detected in the thymocytes of the littermate controls but suppressed in those of the TXNIP knockout mice suggesting the requirement of TXNIP for HSP90 cleavage. We additionally found that HSP90 cleavage was induced by actinomycin D, β-mercaptoethanol, and p38 MAPK inhibitor PD169316 suggesting its prevalence. Taken together, we suggest that HSP90 cleavage occurs also in vivo and contributes to the anti-cancer activity of various drugs in a TXNIP-dependent manner.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• 제28권1호
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2024

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) is a transcription factor activated under hypoxic conditions, and it plays a crucial role in cellular stress regulation. While HIF-1α activity is essential in normal tissues, its presence in the tumor microenvironment represents a significant risk factor as it can induce angiogenesis and confer resistance to anti-cancer drugs, thereby contributing to poor prognoses. Typically, HIF-1α undergoes rapid degradation in normoxic conditions via oxygen-dependent degradation mechanisms. However, certain cancer cells can express HIF-1α even under normoxia. In this study, we observed an inclination toward increased normoxic HIF-1α expression in cancer cell lines exhibiting increased HDAC6 expression, which prompted the hypothesis that HDAC6 may modulate HIF-1α stability in normoxic conditions. To prove this hypothesis, several cancer cells with relatively higher HIF-1α levels under normoxic conditions were treated with ACY-241, a selective HDAC6 inhibitor, and small interfering RNAs for HDAC6 knockdown. Our data revealed a significant reduction in HIF-1α expression upon HDAC6 inhibition. Moreover, the downregulation of HIF-1α under normoxic conditions decreased zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 expression and increased E-cadherin levels in lung cancer H1975 cells, consequently suppressing cell invasion and migration. ACY-241 treatment also demonstrated an inhibitory effect on cell invasion and migration by reducing HIF-1α level. This study confirms that HDAC6 knockdown and ACY-241 treatment effectively decrease HIF-1α expression under normoxia, thereby suppressing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. These findings highlight the potential of selective HDAC6 inhibition as an innovative therapeutic strategy for lung cancer.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제30권2호
• /
• pp.137-146
• /
• 2020

식물에서 Ca²⁺는 세포의 중요한 2차 신호 전달 분자 중 하나이다. Ca²⁺ 및 인산화 효소의 센서 단백질인 칼슘-의존성 단백질 카이네즈(CDPKs)는 식물 세포에서 가장 풍부한 세린/트레오닌 키나아제이다. 이들은 다양한 자극에 대한 신호를 변환하여 식물에서 특정 반응을 일으킨다. 벼에는 31개의 CDPK 유전자 족이 확인되었다. 그들은 주로 식물의 생장과 발달에 관여하며 다양한 스트레스 조건에 반응하여 기능을 하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 그러나 CDPK 단백질의 생화학적 특성에 대해서는 알려진 바가 별로 없다. 이 연구에서는 벼의 CDPK 중 하나인 OsCPK11을 부분 정제하여 그 생화학적 특성을 조사하고자 하였다. 벼 유식물에서 3단계 칼럼 크로마토그래피 과정을 거쳐 부분 정제된 OsCPK11을 얻었다. 정제 과정에는 DEAE를 사용한 음이온 교환 크로마토그래피, Phenyl-Sepharose를 사용한 소수성 상호작용 크로마토그래피 및 Sephacryl-200HR를 사용한 겔 여과 크로마토그래피를 포함하였다. 부분 정제된 OsCPK11은 분자량이 54kDa이며 소수성 수지와 강한 소수성 상호작용을 보였다. 부분 정제된 OsCPK11으로 in vitro kinase assay를 실시한 결과, OsCPK11은 Ca²⁺-의존성 자가인산화 활성을 가짐을 보여 주었다. OsCPK11은 histone III-S를 인산화 하였으며, 카이네즈 활성의 최적 pH는 7.5-8.0이었다. Native OsCPK11은 이전에 연구된 재조합 OsCPK11과 몇 가지 생화학적 특징을 공유하였는데, 둘 다 Ca²⁺-의존성 자가인산화 활성을 나타냈다. 또한, 둘 모두 카이네즈 활성을 위한 기질로서 histone III-S를 선호하였으며, Ca²⁺ 의존성을 보여 주었다.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제27권10호
• /
• pp.1104-1110
• /
• 2017

히스톤 H3K4의 메칠화는 3T3-L1의 지방세포의 분화를 촉진하는 것으로 알려져 있으나, 히스톤 H3K4 메칠화 효소인 SET1A가 지방세포 분화를 조절하는지에 대해서는 보고된 바가 없다. 그러므로 본 연구에서는 SET1A의 3T3-L1 지방세포의 분화조절과 기전을 연구하였다. SET1A의 발현은 3T3-L1 지방세포 분화과정에서 증가함을 관찰하였다. 3T3-L1 지방전구세포에서 siRNA을 이용하여 SET1A의 발현을 감소시키면 3T3-L1 지방전구세포의 분화가 억제됨을 관찰하여 SET1A가 3T3-L1 지방전구세포의 분화를 촉진함을 알 수 있었다. 이에 대한 조절기전을 알기 위해, SET1A의 발현을 감소시킨 3T3-L1 지방전구세포의 세포증식을 측정한 결과, 분화 초기 단계인 분화 후 2일 동안 3T3-L1 지방세포의 증식이 감소하였다. 또한 분화 후 7일 동안 지방세포세포 분화 조절인자들의 발현을 측정한 결과, SET1A의 발현을 감소시킨 3T3-L1 지방세포에서 $PPAR{\gamma}$의 발현이 감소하였다. 위와 같은 연구결과를 바탕으로, SET1A는 분화초기단계에서는 mitotic clonal expansion 단계를 촉진하고, 분화후기단계에서는 $PPAR{\gamma}$의 발현을 증가시켜 3T3-L1 지방세포의 분화를 촉진함을 알 수 있었다.