• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권10호
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• pp.5069-5074
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• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between methylation status of the Dact1 gene and MTHFR a1298c polymorphic forms in transitional cell carcinoma tissues in a Chinese population. Methods: Polymorphisms of folate metabolism enzyme gene MTHFR were assessed by restrictive fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods and PCR-based DNA methylation analysis was used to determine the CpG island methylation status of the Dact1 gene. Associations between the methylation status of the Dact1 gene and clinical characteristics, as well as MTHFR a1298c polymorphisms, were analyzed. Results: aberrant methylation of the Dact1 gene was found in 68.3% of cancer tissues and 12.4% of normal tissues,. The methylation rate of the Dact1 gene in cancer tissues was significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastasis than in those without lymph node metastasis (46.3% vs. 17.2%, P = 0.018). No association was found between aberrant DNA methylation and selected factors including sex, age, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and green tea consumption. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, variant allele of MTHFR a1298c was found to be associated with methylation of the Dact1 gene. Compared with wild type CC, the odds ratio was 4.33 (95% CI: 1.06-10.59) for AC and 4.95 (95% CI: 1.18-12.74) for AA. The N stage in TNM staging and the occurrence of lymph node metastasis were associated with an MTHFR 1298 AA+AC genotype (P<0.05). Conclusion: MTHFR 1298 AC and AA genotypes might help maintain a normal methylation status of the Dact1 gene, aberrant CpG island methylation of which is closely related to the genesis and progression of transitional cell carcinoma.

• BMB Reports
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• 제45권2호
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• pp.126-131
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• 2012

We have previously identified a DNA silent region located downstream of the 3'-end of the ${\beta}^{major}$ globin gene (designated B1-559) that contains a B1 retrotransposon, consensus binding sites for erythroid specific transcription factors and shares the capacity to act as promoter in hematopoietic cells interacting with ${\beta}$-globin gene LCR sequences in vitro. In this study, we have cloned four new non-polyA RNA transcripts being detected upon blockade of murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cell differentiation to erythroid maturation by methylation inhibitors and demonstrated that two of them share high structural homology with sequences of B1 element found within the B1-559 region. Although it is not clear yet whether and how these RNAs interfere with induction of erythroid maturation, these data provide evidence for the first time showing that methylation inhibitors can activate silent repetitive DNA sequences in MEL cells and may have implications in cancer chemotherapy using demethylating drugs as antineoplastic agents.

• 한국자원식물학회지
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.491-498
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• 2007

It has been hypothesized that efficient exclusion of methylated retrotransposons and repeated DNA region is one of the rapid and cost-effective approaches for comprehensive gene discovery in large genome size of maize. Three kinds of methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes, HapII, MspI and McrBC, were used to identify the restriction frequency of cytosine methylation sites in maize genome. Roughly 60% of total maize genomic DNA was restricted less than 500bp by McrBC, and the most of restricted small size fraction was composed retrotransposon. In order to validate the efficient construction of gene-rich shotgun library, we compare two gene-rich methyl-filtration shotgun libraries using in vivo and in vitro methyl-filtration system. The size selected DNA fraction by Sau3A-McrBC enzyme treated was very stable and has not appeared modification in E. coli, but most insert DNA size of partially digested with Sau3A were decrease less than 500bp by bacterial methylation-modification system. In compare of retroelements portion, A 44.6% of the sequences were retroelement in unmethyl-filtered library, and the most of them was Copia type, such as Prem, Opie and Ji. The portion of retroelement was drastically decreased to 25% and 20% by in vivo and in vitro filtration system, respectively.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.46-52
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• 2016

Diverse somatic mutations have been reported to serve as cancer drivers. Recently, it has also been reported that epigenetic regulation is closely related to cancer development. However, the effect of epigenetic changes on cancer is still elusive. In this study, we analyzed DNA methylation data on colon cancer taken from The Caner Genome Atlas. We found that several promoters were significantly hypermethylated in colon cancer patients. Through clustering analysis of differentially methylated DNA regions, we were able to define subgroups of patients and observed clinical features associated with each subgroup. In addition, we analyzed the functional ontology of aberrantly methylated genes and identified the G-protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway as one of the major pathways affected epigenetically. In conclusion, our analysis shows the possibility of characterizing the clinical features of colon cancer subgroups based on DNA methylation patterns and provides lists of important genes and pathways possibly involved in colon cancer development.

• 통합자연과학논문집
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.61-67
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• 2023

Human body ages differently due to environmental, genetic and pathological factors. DNA methylation patterns also differs depending on various factors such as aging and several other diseases. The aging clock model, which uses these differences to predict age, analyzes DNA methylation patterns, recognizes age-specific patterns, predicts age, and grasps the speed and degree of aging. Aging occurs in everyone and causes various problems such as deterioration of physical ability and complications. Alzheimer's disease is a disease associated with aging and the most common brain degenerative disease. This disease causes various cognitive functions disabilities such as dementia and impaired judgment to motor functions, making daily life impossible. It has been reported that the incidence and progression of this disease increase with aging, and that increased phosphorylation of Aβ and tau proteins, which are overexpressed in this disease and accelerates epigenetic aging. It has also been reported that DNA methylation is significantly increased in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex of Alzheimer's disease patients. Therefore, we calculated the biological age using the Epi clock, a pan-tissue aging clock model, and confirmed that the epigenetic age of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease is lower than their actual age. Also, it was confirmed to slow down aging.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.635-640
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• 2009

Testis-derived germline stem (GS) cells can undergo reprogramming to acquire multipotency when cultured under appropriate culture conditions. These multipotent GS (mGS) cells have been known to differ from GS cells in their DNA methylation pattern. In this study, we examined the DNA methylation status of the H19 imprinting control region (ICR) in multipotent adult germline stem (maGS) cells to elucidate how epigenetic imprints are altered by culture conditions. DNA methylation was analyzed by bisulfite sequencing PCR of established maGS cells cultured in the presence of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) alone or both GDNF and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). The results showed that the H19 ICR in maGS cells of both groups was hypermethylated and had an androgenetic pattern similar to that of GS cells. In line with these data, the relative abundance of the Igf2 mRNA transcript was two-fold higher and that of H19 was three fold lower than in control embryonic stem cells. The androgenetic DNA methylation pattern of the H19 ICR was maintained even after 54 passages. Furthermore, differentiating maGS cells from retinoic acid-treated embryoid bodies maintained the androgenetic imprinting pattern of the H19 ICR. Taken together these data suggest that our maGS cells are epigenetically stable for the H19 gene during in vitro modifications. Further studies on the epigenetic regulation and chromatin structure of maGS cells are therefore necessary before their full potential can be utilized in regenerative medicine.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제54권3호
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• pp.157-163
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• 2012

The male reproduction is precisely controlled by a number of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. These factors usually involve in expressional regulation of various molecules influencing on sperm production in the testis. A number of ways are employed to control the transcription of specific genes, including epigenetic modifications of DNA and histone molecules. DNA methylation of CpG dinucleotides is a commonly used regulatory mechanism for testicular genes associated with the fertility. Previous studies have demonstrated the infertility induced by improper DNA methylation of these genes. In the present research, we attempted to determine transcriptional expression of some of these genes in the rat testis at different postnatal ages using real-time PCR analysis. These genes include neurotrophin 3 (Ntf3), insulin-like growth factor II (Igf2), JmjC-domain-containing histone demethylase 2A 1 (Jhm2da), paired box 8 transcription factor (Pax8), small nuclear ribonucleoprotein polypeptide N (Snrpn), and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (Mthfr). The expression levels of Ntf3, Igf2, and Snrpn genes were the highest at the neonatal age, followed by transient decreases at the prepubertal age. Expression of Jhm2da and Mthfr genes were continuously increased from the neonate to 1 year of age. The levels of Pax8 mRNA at the early ages were higher than those at the later ages of postnatal development. These findings suggest that expression of some fertility-associated testicular genes in the rat during postnatal period could be differentially regulated by the control of the degree of DNA methylation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.75-84
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• 2014

Aberrant DNA methylation of tumor suppressor genes has been reported in all major types of leukemia with potential involvement in the inactivation of regulatory cell cycle and apoptosis genes. However, most of the previous reports did not show the extent of concurrent methylation of multiple genes in the four leukemia types. Here, we analyzed six key genes (p14, p15, p16, p53, DAPK and TMS1) for DNA methylation using methylation specific PCR to analyze peripheral blood of 78 leukemia patients (24 CML, 25 CLL, 12 AML, and 17 ALL) and 24 healthy volunteers. In CML, methylation was detected for p15 (11%), p16 (9%), p53 (23%) and DAPK (23%), in CLL, p14 (25%), p15 (19%), p16 (12%), p53 (17%) and DAPK (36%), in AML, p14 (8%), p15 (45%), p53 (9%) and DAPK (17%) and in ALL, p15 (14%), p16 (8%), and p53 (8%). This study highlighted an essential role of DAPK methylation in chronic leukemia in contrast to p15 methylation in the acute cases, whereas TMS1 hypermethylation was absent in all cases. Furthermore, hypermethylation of multiple genes per patient was observed, with obvious selectiveness in the 9p21 chromosomal region genes (p14, p15 and p16). Interestingly, methylation of p15 increased the risk of methylation in p53, and vice versa, by five folds (p=0.03) indicating possible synergistic epigenetic disruption of different phases of the cell cycle or between the cell cycle and apoptosis. The investigation of multiple relationships between methylated genes might shed light on tumor specific inactivation of the cell cycle and apoptotic pathways.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권22호
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• pp.9955-9960
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• 2014

Background: Promoter hypermethylation is a common event in human cancer. O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a gene involved in DNA repair, which is methylated in a variety of cancers. We aimed to explore the methylation status of MGMT gene among the North Eastern population where esophageal cancer incidence and exposure to carcinogens like nitrosamines is high. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 newly diagnosed esophageal cancer cases along with equal number of age, sex and ethnicity matched controls were included in this study. Methylation specific PCR was used to determine the MGMT methylation status in serum samples. Results: Aberrant promoter methylation of the MGMT gene was detected in 70% of esophageal cancer cases. Hypermethylation of MGMT gene was found to be influenced by environmental factors like betel quid and tobacco which contain potent carcinogens like nitrosamines. Tobacco chewing and tobacco smoking habit synergistically with MGMT methylation elevated the risk for esophageal cancer development [adjusted OR=5.02, 95% CI=1.35-18.74; p=0.010 for tobacco chewing and Adjusted OR=3.00, 95% CI=1.22-7.36; p=0.014 for tobacco smoking]. Conclusions: Results suggest that the DNA hypermethylation of MGMT is an important mechanism for MGMT gene silencing resulting in esophageal cancer development and is influenced by the environmental factors. Thus MGMT hypermethylation can be used as a biomarker for esophageal cancer in high incidence region of North East India.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제65권6호
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• pp.495-503
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• 2008

연구배경: 유전자의 후생적인 변화(epigenetic alteration)는 악성종양의 병인론에 있어서 유전자 변이와 동등한 위치를 점하고 있다. 특히 종양억제 유전자의 전사 촉진(promoter) 부위에 발생하는 비정상적인 메칠화(methylation)는 유전자의 발현을 침묵화(silencing)하고, 결과적으로 유전자의 기능 소실을 일으키게 된다. 저자들은 CpG island와 HpaII site를 가지고 있으며 암화 과정에 관여할 것으로 생각되는 유전자에 대하여 HpaII-MspI methylation microarray를 이용하여 새로운 종양억제 유전자를 발굴하고자 하였다. 방 법: 2005년 건양대학교 병원에서 수술한 비 소세포성 폐암 환자 10명에서 폐암조직과 상응하는 암 주변의 정상조직을 얻었으며, HpaII-MspI methylation microarray (Methyl-Scan DNA chip$^{(R)}$, Genomic tree, Inc, South Korea)를 이용하여 21개의 유전자에 대하여 DNA methylation profile을 분석하였다. 각각의 유전자에서 메칠화된 정도를 두 그룹에서 비교하였고, 정상 대조군으로 두 명의 젊고 건강한 기흉 환자에서 수술한 폐 조직에 대하여 methylation profile을 분석하였다. 결 과: 21개의 대상 유전자 중 10개의 유전자에서 폐암조직, 폐암 주변 정상 조직, 대조군에서 모두 공통적으로 과메칠화 되었고, 나머지 11개의 유전자 중 APC, AR, RAR-b, HTR1B, EPHA3, CFTR의 6개의 유전자에서 대조군에서 메칠화가 없으며, 폐암조직에서 폐암 주변 정상 조직에 비하여 더 빈번하게 과메칠화 되었다. 결 론: HTR1B, EPHA3, CFTR은 비소세포 폐암에서 후생적 변화로 발생하는 새로운 종양억제 유전자의 후보 유전자로서의 가능성이 있을 것으로 생각한다.