• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.189-197
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• 2018

Objective: Hemicastration is a unilateral orchiectomy to remove an injured testis, which can induce hormonal changes and compensatory hypertrophy of the remaining testis, and may influence spermatogenesis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of hemicastration on remaining testicular function. Methods: Prepubertal mice (age 24 days) were hemicastrated, and their growth was monitored until they reached physical maturity (age 72 days). Subsequently, we determined testis DNA methylation patterns using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing of normal and hemicastrated mice. Moreover, we profiled the testicular gene expression patterns by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to examine whether methylation changes affected gene expression in hemicastrated mice. Results: Hemicastration did not significantly affect growth or testosterone (p>0.05) compared with control. The genome-wide DNA methylation pattern of remaining testis suggested that substantial genes harbored differentially methylated regions (1,139) in gene bodies, which were enriched in process of protein binding and cell adhesion. Moreover, RNA-seq results indicated that 46 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in meiotic cell cycle, synaptonemal complex assembly and spermatogenesis were upregulated in the hemicastration group, while 197 DEGs were downregulated, which were related to arachidonic acid metabolism. Integrative analysis revealed that proteasome 26S subunit ATPase 3 interacting protein gene, which encodes a protein crucial for homologous recombination in spermatocytes, exhibited promoter hypomethylation and higher expression level in hemicastrated mice. Conclusion: Global profiling of DNA methylation and gene expression demonstrated that hemicastration-induced compensatory response maintained normal growth and testicular morphological structure in mice.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.4925-4928
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• 2014

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the methylation of RASSF1A and CDH13 gene promoter regions as a marker for monitoring chemotherapeutic efficacy with personalized medicine for patients with NSCLC, in the hope of providing a new direction for NSCLC individualized chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: 42 NSCLC patients and 40 healthy controls were included. Patient blood samples were collected in the whole process of chemotherapy. Methylation of RASSF1A and CDH13 gene promoter regions was detected by the methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP). Results: The rate of RASSF1A and CDH13 gene methylation in 42 cases of NSCLC patients was significantly higher than in 40 healthy controls (52.4% to 0.0%, 54.8% to 0.0%, p<0.05). After the chemotherapy, the hyper-methylation of RASSF1A and CDH13 genes in PR group and SD group decreased significantly (p<0.05), and was significantly different from that in PD group (p<0.05), but not as compared with healthy controls (P>0.05). With chemotherapy, RASSF1A and CDH13 promoter region methylation rate in 42 cases of patients showed a declining trend. Conclusions: The methylation level of RASSF1A and CDH13 gene promoter region can reflect drug sensitivity of tumors to individualized treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7713-7718
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• 2013

DNA methylation is considered a promising biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer in general and of ovarian cancer in particular. In our study, we validated the accuracy of methylation specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) to analyze the methylation pattern of BRCA1, RASSF1A and ER in 59 and 10 Vietnamese patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and benign ovarian tumors, respectively. We found methylation of BRCA1, RASSF1A and ER in 11/59 (18.6%), 40/59 (67.8%) and 15/59 (25.4%) of EOC cases, while methylation of BRCA1 was only detected in 2/10 (20%) benign ovarian patients. Forty five out of the 59 EOCs (78%) demonstrated methylation at one or more genes. The methylation frequency of RASSF1A was significantly associated with EOC (p<0.0005). No significant association was observed between methylation status of these genes and the clinical and pathological parameters of tumors collected from Vietnamese women suffering from ovarian cancer.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.161-165
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• 2019

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and has high rates of metastasis. Transforming growth factor beta-inducible protein (TGFBI) is an extracellular matrix component involved in tumour growth and metastasis. However, the exact role of TGFBI in NSCLC remains controversial. Gene silencing via DNA methylation of the promoter region is common in lung tumorigenesis and could thus be used for the development of molecular biomarkers. We analysed the methylation status of the TGFBI promoter in 138 NSCLC specimens via methylation-specific PCR and evaluated the correlation between TGFBI methylation and patient survival. TGFBI promoter methylation was detected in 25 (18.1%) of the tumours and was demonstrated to be associated with gene silencing. We observed no statistical correlation between TGFBI methylation and clinicopathological characteristics. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that TGFBI methylation is significantly associated with poor survival outcomes in adenocarcinoma cases (adjusted hazard ratio = 2.88, 95% confidence interval = 1.19-6.99, P = 0.019), but not in squamous cell cases. Our findings suggest that methylation in the TGFBI promoter may be associated with pathogenesis of NSCLC and can be used as a predictive marker for lung adenocarcinoma prognosis. Further large-scale studies are needed to confirm these findings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5843-5846
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• 2015

Background: Detection of cervical high grade lesions in patients with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) is still a challenge. Our study tested the efficacy of the paired boxed gene 1 (PAX1) methylation analysis by methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting (MS-HRM) in the detection of high grade lesions in ASCUS and compared performance with the hybrid capture 2 (HC2) human papillomavirus (HPV) test. Materials and Methods: A total of 463 consecutive ASCUS women from primary screening were selected. Their cervical scrapings were collected and assessed by PAX1 methylation analysis (MS-HRM) and high-risk HPV-DNA test (HC2). All patients with ASCUS were admitted to colposcopy and cervical biopsies. The Chisquare test was used to test the differences of PAX1 methylation or HPV infection between groups. Results: The specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy for detecting CIN2 + lesions were: 95.6%, 82.4%, and 94.6%, respectively, for the PAX1 MS-HRM test; and 59.7%, 64.7%, and 60.0% for the HC2 HPV test. Conclusions: The PAX1 methylation analysis by MS-HRM demonstrated a better performance than the high-risk HPV-DNA test for the detection of high grade lesions (CIN2 +) in ASCUS cases. This approach could screen out the majority of low grade cases of ASCUS, and thus reduce the referral rate to colposcopy.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.358-367
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• 2008

The embryonic germ cell (EGCs) of mice is a kind of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated from pre- and post-migratory primordial germ cells (PGCs). Most previous studies on DNA methylation of EGCs were restricted to 12.5 days post coitum (dpc). This study was designed to establish and characterize murine EGC lines from migrated PGCs as late as 13.5 dpc and to estimate the degrees of methylation of their imprinted genes as well as of the non-imprinted locus, Oct4, using an accurate and quantitative method of measurement. We established five independent EGC lines from post migratory PGCs of 11.5-13.5 dpc from C57BL/6 ${\times}$ DBA/2 F1 hybrid mouse fetuses. All the EGCs exhibited the typical features of pluripotent cells including hypomethylation of the Oct4 regulatory region. We examined the methylation status of three imprinted genes; Igf2, Igf2r and H19 in the five EGC lines using bisulfite genomic sequencing analysis. Igf2r was almost unmethylated in all the EGC lines irrespective of the their sex and stage of isolation; Igf2 and H19 were more methylated than Igf2r, especially in male EGCs. Moreover, EGCs derived at 13.5 dpc exhibited higher levels of DNA methylation than those from earlier stages. These results suggest that in vitro derived EGCs acquire different epigenotypes from their parental in vivo migratory PGCs, and that sex-specific de novo methylation occurs in the Igf2 and H19 genes of EGCs.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.830-835
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• 2010

Epigenetic modification of the genome through DNA methylation is the key to maintaining the differentiated state of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), and it must be reset during differentiation by retinoic acid (RA) treatment. A genome-wide methylation/gene expression assay was performed in order to identify epigenetic modifications of RA-treated hESCs. Between undifferentiated and RA-treated hESCs, 166 differentially methylated CpG sites and 2,013 differentially expressed genes were discovered. Combined analysis of methylation and expression data revealed that 19 genes (STAP2, VAMP8, C10orf26, WFIKKN1, ELF3, C1QTNF6, C10orf10, MRGPRF, ARSE, LSAMP, CENTD3, LDB2, POU5F1, GSPT2, THY1, ZNF574, MSX1, SCMH1, and RARB) were highly correlated with each other. The results provided in this study will facilitate future investigations into the interplay between DNA methylation and gene expression through further functional and biological studies.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 1998

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer has been extensively used in the traditional oriental medicine as a restorative, tonic and prophylatic agent. Petroleum ether extract of panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (GPE) and its several fractions (PI-P5) were tested for the evaluation of antigenotoxicity against N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) and benzo(a)pyrene [B(a)P]-induced micronucleated reticulocytes in mouse peripheral blood. GPE and P2 showed more significant anticlastogenicity than other fractions did. To elucidate the anticlastogenic action mechanism of GPE and P2 against B(a)P, the alteration of B(a)P metabolism was studied. GPE and P2 inhibited B(a)P metabolism in the presence of 8-9 mix and decreased B(a)P-DNA binding in calf thymus DNA with 8-9 mix. They also decreased [$^3H$] MNU induced DNA binding and methylation to 7-methyl guanine and $O^{6}-methyl$ guanine adducts in calf thymus DNA by RPLC analysis. These results suggest that the anticlastogenicity of GPE and P2 on the B(a)P or MNU-induced clastogenicity is due to decrease of DNA binding with B(a)P or MNU, the inhibition of metabolism with B(a)P and the inhibition of methylation in DNA. Therefore, GPE and P2 may be useful chemopreventive agents of alkylating agent like MNU and secondary carcinogen like B(a)P.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2018

Although cisplatin is one of the most effective antitumor drugs for ovarian cancer, the emergence of chemoresistance to cisplatin in over 80% of initially responsive patients is a major barrier to successful therapy. The precise mechanisms underlying the development of cisplatin resistance are not fully understood, but alteration of DNA methylation associated with aberrant gene silencing may play a role. To identify epigenetically regulated genes directly associated with ovarian cancer cisplatin resistance, we compared the expression and methylation profiles of cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant human ovarian cancer cell lines. We identified ${\alpha}$-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (NAGA) as one of the key candidate genes for cisplatin drug response. Interestingly, in cisplatin-resistant cell lines, NAGA was significantly down-regulated and hypermethylated at a promoter CpG site at position +251 relative to the transcriptional start site. Low NAGA expression in cisplatin-resistant cell lines was restored by treatment with a DNA demethylation agent, indicating transcriptional silencing by hyper-DNA methylation. Furthermore, overexpression of NAGA in cisplatin-resistant lines induced cytotoxicity in response to cisplatin, whereas depletion of NAGA expression increased cisplatin chemoresistance, suggesting an essential role of NAGA in sensitizing ovarian cells to cisplatin. These findings indicate that NAGA acts as a cisplatin sensitizer and its gene silencing by hypermethylation confers resistance to cisplatin in ovarian cancer. Therefore, we suggest NAGA may be a promising potential therapeutic target for improvement of sensitivity to cisplatin in ovarian cancer.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.186-195
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• 2010

In most self-incompatible plant species, recognition of self-pollen is controlled by a single locus, termed the S-locus. The self-incompatibility (SI) system in Brassica is controlled sporophytically by multiple alleles at a single locus, designated as S, and involves cell-cell communication between male and female. Two highly polymorphic S locus genes, SLG (S locus glycoprotein) and SRK (S receptor kinase), have been identified, both of which are expressed predominantly in the stigmatic papillar cell. Gain-of-function experiments have demonstrated that SRK solely determines S haplotype-specificity of the stigma, while SLG enhances the recognition reaction of SI. The sequence analysis of the S locus genomic region of B. campestris (syn. rapa) has led to the identification of an anther-specific gene, designated as SP11/SCR, which is the male S determinant. Molecular analysis has demonstrated that the dominance relationships between S alleles in the stigma were determined by SRK itself, but not by the relative expression level. In contrast, the expression of SP11/SCR from the recessive S allele was specifically suppressed in the S heterozygote, suggesting that the dominance relationships in pollen were determined by the expression level of SP11/SCR. Furthermore, recent studies on recessive allele-specific DNA methylation of Brassica self-incompatibility alleles demonstrate that DNA methylation patterns in plants can vary temporally and spatially in each generation. In this review, we firstly present overview of self incompatibility system in Brassica and then describe dominance relationships in Brassica self- incompatibility regulated by allele-specific DNA methylation.