1 3477 112 IDENTIFICATION OF ABNORMALLY METHYLATED DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES IN CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS BY INTEGRATED BIOINFORMATICS ANALYSIS. BACKGROUND: DNA METHYLATION PLAYS A VITAL ROLE AS AN EPIGENETIC CHANGE THAT CONTRIBUTES TO CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS. OBJECTIVE: THIS STUDY AIMED TO INTEGRATE TWO METHYLATION DATASETS (GSE173081 AND GSE59962) AND TWO GENE EXPRESSION DATASETS (GSE10334 AND GES16134) TO IDENTIFY ABNORMALLY METHYLATED DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES RELATED TO CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS. METHODS: DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENES WERE OBTAINED. FUNCTIONAL ENRICHMENT ANALYSIS OF DMGS WAS PERFORMED. THE PROTEIN-PROTEIN INTERACTION (PPI) NETWORK WAS CONSTRUCTED USING STRING AND CYTOSCAPE SOFTWARE. FINALLY, THE HUB GENES WERE SELECTED FROM THE PPI NETWORK BY USING CYTOHUBBA. RESULTS: IN TOTAL, 122 HYPOMETHYLATED AND HIGHLY EXPRESSED GENES WERE ENRICHED IN THE BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS THAT ARE INVOLVED IN THE DIFFERENTIATION OF EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX ORGANIZATION, EXTRACELLULAR STRUCTURE ORGANIZATION, AND CELL CHEMOTAXIS. THE THREE SELECTED HUB GENES OF THE PPI NETWORK WERE IL1B, KDR, AND MMP9. A TOTAL OF 122 HYPERMETHYLATED AND LOWLY EXPRESSED GENES WERE IDENTIFIED, AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES, SUCH AS CORNIFICATION, EPIDERMIS DEVELOPMENT, SKIN DEVELOPMENT, AND KERATINOCYTE DIFFERENTIATION WERE ENRICHED. CDSN DSG1, AND KRT2 WERE IDENTIFIED AS THE TOP 3 HUB GENES OF THE PPI NETWORK. CONCLUSION: BASED ON THE COMPREHENSIVE BIOINFORMATICS ANALYSIS, SIX HUB GENES (IL1B, KDR, MMP9, CDSN DSG1, AND KRT2) WERE ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS. OUR FINDINGS PROVIDE NOVEL INSIGHTS INTO THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING EPIGENETIC CHANGES IN CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS. 2023 2 1022 37 CIRCULAR RNA HSA_CIRC_0098181 INHIBITS METASTASIS IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA BY ACTIVATING THE HIPPO SIGNALING PATHWAY VIA INTERACTION WITH EEF2. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC) IS A MULTI-STEP PROCESS THAT ACCUMULATES GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS, INCLUDING CHANGES IN CIRCULAR RNA (CIRCRNA). THIS STUDY AIMED TO UNDERSTAND THE ALTERATIONS IN CIRCRNA EXPRESSION IN HCC DEVELOPMENT AND METASTASIS AND TO EXPLORE THE BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF CIRCRNA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TEN PAIRS OF ADJACENT CHRONIC HEPATITIS TISSUES AND HCC TISSUES FROM PATIENTS WITHOUT VENOUS METASTASES, AND TEN HCC TISSUES FROM PATIENTS WITH VENOUS METASTASES WERE ANALYZED USING HUMAN CIRCRNA MICROARRAYS. DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED CIRCRNAS WERE THEN VALIDATED BY QUANTITATIVE REAL-TIME PCR. IN VITRO AND IN VIVO ASSAYS WERE PERFORMED TO ASSESS THE ROLES OF THE CIRCRNA IN HCC PROGRESSION. RNA PULL-DOWN ASSAY, MASS SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS, AND RNA-BINDING PROTEIN IMMUNOPRECIPITATION WERE CONDUCTED TO EXPLORE THE PROTEIN PARTNERS OF THE CIRCRNA. RESULTS: CIRCRNA MICROARRAYS REVEALED THAT THE EXPRESSION PATTERNS OF CIRCRNAS ACROSS THE THREE GROUPS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT. AMONG THESE, HSA_CIRC_0098181 WAS VALIDATED TO BE LOWLY EXPRESSED AND ASSOCIATED WITH POOR PROGNOSIS IN HCC PATIENTS. ECTOPIC EXPRESSION OF HSA_CIRC_0098181 DELAYED HCC METASTASIS IN VITRO AND IN VIVO. MECHANISTICALLY, HSA_CIRC_0098181 SEQUESTERED EUKARYOTIC TRANSLATION ELONGATION FACTOR 2 (EEF2) AND DISSOCIATED EEF2 FROM FILAMENTOUS ACTIN (F-ACTIN) TO PREVENT F-ACTIN FORMATION, WHICH BLOCKED ACTIVATION OF THE HIPPO SIGNALING PATHWAY. IN ADDITION, THE RNA BINDING PROTEIN QUAKING-5 BOUND DIRECTLY TO HSA_CIRC_0098181 AND INDUCED ITS BIOGENESIS. CONCLUSIONS: OUR STUDY REVEALS CHANGES IN CIRCRNA EXPRESSION FROM CHRONIC HEPATITIS, PRIMARY HCC, TO METASTATIC HCC. FURTHER, THE QKI5-HSA_CIRC_0098181-EEF2-HIPPO SIGNALING PATHWAY EXERTS A REGULATORY ROLE IN HCC. 2023 3 1081 36 CLUSTERED PROTOCADHERINS METHYLATION ALTERATIONS IN CANCER. BACKGROUND: CLUSTERED PROTOCADHERINS (PCDHS) MAP IN TANDEM AT HUMAN CHROMOSOME 5Q31 AND COMPRISE THREE MULTI-GENES CLUSTERS: ALPHA-, BETA- AND GAMMA-PCDH. THE EXPRESSION OF THIS CLUSTER CONSISTS OF A COMPLEX MECHANISM INVOLVING DNA HUB FORMATION THROUGH DNA-CCTC BINDING FACTOR (CTCF) INTERACTION. METHYLATION ALTERATIONS CAN AFFECT THIS INTERACTION, LEADING TO TRANSCRIPTIONAL DYSREGULATION. IN CANCER, CLUSTERED PCDHS UNDERGO A MECHANISM OF LONG-RANGE EPIGENETIC SILENCING BY HYPERMETHYLATION. RESULTS: IN THIS STUDY, WE DETECTED FREQUENT METHYLATION ALTERATIONS AT CPG ISLANDS ASSOCIATED TO THESE CLUSTERED PCDHS IN ALL THE SOLID TUMOURS ANALYSED (COLORECTAL, GASTRIC AND BILIARY TRACT CANCERS, PILOCYTIC ASTROCYTOMA), BUT NOT HEMATOLOGIC NEOPLASMS SUCH AS CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA. IMPORTANTLY, SEVERAL ALTERED CPG ISLANDS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH CTCF BINDING SITES. INTERESTINGLY, OUR ANALYSIS REVEALED A HYPOMETHYLATION EVENT IN PILOCYTIC ASTROCYTOMA, SUGGESTING THAT IN NEURONAL TISSUE, WHERE PCDHS ARE HIGHLY EXPRESSED, THESE GENES BECOME HYPOMETHYLATED IN THIS TYPE OF CANCER. ON THE OTHER HAND, IN TISSUES WHERE PCDHS ARE LOWLY EXPRESSED, THESE CPG ISLANDS ARE TARGETED BY DNA METHYLATION. IN FACT, PCDH-ASSOCIATED CPG ISLANDS RESULTED HYPERMETHYLATED IN GASTROINTESTINAL TUMOURS. CONCLUSIONS: OUR STUDY HIGHLIGHTED A STRONG ALTERATION OF THE CLUSTERED PCDHS METHYLATION PATTERN IN THE ANALYSED SOLID CANCERS AND SUGGESTED THESE METHYLATION ABERRATIONS IN THE CPG ISLANDS ASSOCIATED WITH PCDH GENES AS POWERFUL DIAGNOSTIC BIOMARKERS. 2019 4 3413 32 HSA-MIR-29C AND HSA-MIR-135B DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION AS POTENTIAL BIOMARKER OF GASTRIC CARCINOGENESIS. AIM: TO INVESTIGATE THE EXPRESSION PROFILES OF HSA-MIR-29C AND HSA-MIR-135B IN GASTRIC MUCOSAL SAMPLES AND THEIR VALUES AS GASTRIC CARCINOGENESIS BIOMARKERS. METHODS: THE EXPRESSION LEVELS OF HSA-MIR-29C AND HSA-MIR-135B IN NORMAL GASTRIC MUCOSA, NON-ATROPHIC CHRONIC GASTRITIS, INTESTINAL METAPLASIA AND INTESTINAL-TYPE GASTRIC ADENOCARCINOMA WERE ANALYSED USING QUANTITATIVE REAL-TIME PCR. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HSA-MIR-29C AND HSA-MIR-135B EXPRESSION PROFILES IN THE GROUPED SAMPLES WAS EVALUATED BY ANOVA AND STUDENT'S T-TEST TESTS. THE RESULTS WERE ADJUSTED FOR MULTIPLE TESTING BY USING BONFERRONI'S CORRECTION. P VALUES 2.0 AND P < .05). THE TOP FIVE UPREGULATED CIRCRNAS WERE VALIDATED BY RT-QPCR THAT HAD STRONG ASSOCIATIONS WITH MULTIPLE HUMAN DISEASES, INCLUDING PERIODONTITIS. THE UPREGULATION OF CIRCRNAS WERE POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH PD (R = .40-.69, P < .05, MODERATE). A CIRCRNA-MIRNA-MRNA NETWORK WITH THE TOP FIVE UPREGULATED CIRCRNAS, DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED MRNAS, AND OVERLAPPED PREDICTED MIRNAS INDICATED POTENTIAL ROLES OF CIRCRNAS IN IMMUNE RESPONSE, CELL APOPTOSIS, MIGRATION, ADHESION, AND REACTION TO OXIDATIVE STRESS. THE ROC CURVE SHOWED THAT CIRCRNAS HAD POTENTIAL VALUE IN PERIODONTITIS DIAGNOSIS (AUC = 0.7321-0.8667, P < .05). CONCLUSION: CIRCRNA-DISEASE ASSOCIATIONS WERE PREDICTED BY ONLINE BIOINFORMATIC TOOLS. POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN UPREGULATED CIRCRNAS, CIRCPTP4A2, CHR22:23101560-23135351+, CIRCARHGEF28, CIRCBARD1 AND CIRCRASA2, AND PD SUGGESTED FUNCTION OF CIRCRNAS IN PERIODONTITIS. NETWORK PREDICTION FURTHER FOCUSED ON DOWNSTREAM TARGETS REGULATED BY CIRCRNAS DURING PERIODONTITIS PATHOGENESIS. 2022 10 1065 34 CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SERUM DRAM1 MRNA, ARSA MRNA, HSA-MIR-2053 AND LNCRNA-RP1-86D1.3 AXIS EXPRESSION IN MALIGNANT PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA. AIM AND BACKGROUND: MALIGNANT PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA (MPM) IS A LETHAL CANCER MAINLY CAUSED BY CHRONIC EXPOSURE OF ASBESTOS. IN THIS PILOT STUDY, WE AIMED TO ASSESS THE EXPRESSION OF SERUM RNA-BASED BIOMARKER PANEL EXPLORING THEIR CLINICAL UTILITY AS DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC BIOMARKERS FOR MPM. METHODS: WE HAVE SELECTED AN MPM-SPECIFIC RNA-BASED BIOMARKER PANEL THROUGH BIOINFORMATICS ANALYSIS BASED ON THE INTEGRATION OF DNA DAMAGE REGULATED AUTOPHAGY MODULATOR 1 (DRAM1) AND ARYLSULFATASE A ( ARSA) GENE EXPRESSION WITH THEIR EPIGENETIC REGULATORS MICRORNA ( MIR-2053) AND LONG NONCODING RNA ( LNCRNA-RP1-86D1.3). THEN, QUANTITATIVE REAL-TIME POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (QPCR) VALIDATION IN SERA OF 60 MPM PATIENTS, 20 CHRONIC ASBESTOS EXPOSURE PATIENTS, AND 20 HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS WAS DONE. LASTLY, THE PROGNOSTIC POWER OF THE SELECTED PANEL WAS ASSESSED. RESULTS: THE EXPRESSION OF SERUM DRAM1 MESSENGER RNA (MRNA), ARSA MRNA, HSA-MIR-2053 AND LNCRNA-RP1-86D1.3 WERE POSITIVE IN 78.3%, 90%, 85%, AND 83.3% OF MPM PATIENTS, RESPECTIVELY. THE RNA-BASED BIOMARKER PANEL WAS ABLE TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN MPM PATIENTS AND CONTROLS WITH HIGH ACCURACY AND THEIR COMBINED SENSITIVITY REACHED 100% FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF MPM. KAPLAN-MEIER ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT HSA-MIR-2053 IS AN INDEPENDENT PROGNOSTIC FACTOR OF MPM. CONCLUSION: OUR PRELIMINARY DATA REVEALED THAT THE CHOSEN RNAS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN DRIVING MPM DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESSION. 2019 11 2842 30 FREQUENT CONCOMITANT EPIGENETIC SILENCING OF SOX1 AND SECRETED FRIZZLED-RELATED PROTEINS (SFRPS) IN HUMAN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA. BACKGROUND AND AIM: EXCEPT FOR GENETIC MUTATIONS, EPIGENETIC CHANGES ARE ALSO INVOLVED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CANCERS. RECENTLY, WE HAVE IDENTIFIED SOX1, SRY (SEX DETERMINING REGION Y)-BOX 1, IS HYPERMETHYLATED IN CERVICAL CANCER AND OVARIAN CANCER. THEREFORE, WE INVESTIGATED WHETHER PROMOTER HYPERMETHYLATION OF SOX1 IS COMMON IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC). METHODS: WE USED METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (MS-PCR) AND BISULFITE SEQUENCING TO ANALYZE THE METHYALTION LEVEL OF THE SOX1 PROMOTER IN SEVEN HCC CELL LINES, 54 CLINICAL HCCS, 42 CIRRHOTIC LIVERS, 21 LIVERS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS, AND 15 CONTROL LIVERS. THEN, WE EMPLOYED QUANTITATIVE MS-PCR (QMSP) TO VALIDATE IN AN INDEPENDENT SET OF SAMPLES (60 PAIRED HCCS AND 30 CONTROL LIVERS). FINALLY, WE USED LUCIFERASE REPORTER AND COLONY FORMATION ASSAY TO CHECK THE EFFECT OF SOX1 IN HCC. RESULTS: PROMOTER METHYLATION OF SOX1 WAS SIGNIFICANTLY FREQUENT IN HCC CELL LINES AND CLINICAL HCCS, CIRRHOTIC LIVERS, BUT NOT IN CONTROL LIVERS (P < 0.0001). THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION BETWEEN DOWNREGULATION OF SOX1 EXPRESSION AND PROMOTER METHYLATION. QMSP RESULTS CONFIRMED THAT PROMOTER HYPERMETHYLATION OF SOX1 IS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE FREQUENT IN HCCS THAN CONTROL LIVERS (P < 0.0001). THE FREQUENCY OF SOX1 METHYLATION IN PATIENTS WITH SECRETED FRIZZLED-RELATED PROTEINS (SFRPS) METHYLATION IS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN IN PATIENTS WITHOUT SFRPS METHYLATION (P < 0.0001). FURTHERMORE, ECTOPIC EXPRESSION OF SOX1 COULD SUPPRESS T-CELL FACTOR-DEPENDENT TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITY AND COLONY FORMATION NUMBER IN HCCS. CONCLUSIONS: CONCOMITANT EPIGENETIC SILENCING OF SOX1 AND SFRPS THROUGH PROMOTER HYPERMETHYLATION IS FREQUENT IN HCCS, AND THIS MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO ABNORMAL ACTIVATION OF CANONICAL WNT SIGNAL PATHWAY. 2013 12 2844 24 FREQUENT EPIGENETIC INACTIVATION OF SFRP GENES IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA. BACKGROUND: ACTIVATION OF THE WNT SIGNALING PATHWAY IS FREQUENTLY OBSERVED IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC), THOUGH MUTATION OF THREE OF ITS COMPONENTS, CTNNB1, AXIN1, AND AXIN2, IS OBSERVED SUBSTANTIALLY LESS OFTEN. METHODS: WE EXAMINED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WNT SIGNALING AND EPIGENETIC ALTERATION OF SECRETED FRIZZLED-RELATED PROTEIN (SFRP) GENES IN HCC. RESULTS: WE FREQUENTLY DETECTED THE ACTIVE FORM OF BETA-CATENIN AND ACCUMULATION OF NUCLEAR BETA-CATENIN IN LIVER CANCER CELL LINES. WE DETECTED METHYLATION OF SFRP FAMILY GENES IN LIVER CANCER CELL LINES (SFRP1, 9/12, 75%; SFRP2, 7/12, 58%; SFRP4, 3/12, 25%; SFRP5, 7/12, 58%) AND PRIMARY HCCS (SFRP1, 9/19, 47%; SFRP2, 12/19, 63%; SFRP5, 8/19, 42%), THOUGH METHYLATION OF SFRP4 WAS NOT FOUND IN PRIMARY HCCS. SFRP METHYLATION ALSO WAS DETECTED IN HEPATITIS B OR C VIRUS-ASSOCIATED CHRONIC HEPATITIS (SFRP1, 6/37, 16%; SFRP2, 14/37, 38%; SFRP5, 5/37, 14%) AND LIVER CIRRHOSIS (SFRP1, 10/28, 36%; SFRP2, 9/28, 32%; SFRP5, 3/28, 11%), SUGGESTING THAT METHYLATION OF THESE GENES IS AN EARLY EVENT IN LIVER CARCINOGENESIS. ECTOPIC EXPRESSION OF SFRPS DOWNREGULATED T-CELL FACTOR/LYMPHOCYTE ENHANCER FACTOR (TCF/LEF) TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITY IN LIVER CANCER CELLS, WHILE OVEREXPRESSION OF A BETA-CATENIN MUTANT AND DEPLETION OF SFRP1 USING SIRNA SYNERGISTICALLY UPREGULATED TCF/LEF TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITY. CONCLUSIONS: OUR RESULTS CONFIRM THE FREQUENT METHYLATION AND SILENCING OF WNT ANTAGONIST GENES IN HCC, AND SUGGEST THAT THEIR LOSS OF FUNCTION CONTRIBUTES TO ACTIVATION OF WNT SIGNALING DURING HEPATOCARCINOGENESIS. 2008 13 5674 40 SHARED GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS BETWEEN CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS AND ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA. OBJECTIVES: TO ANALYZE BIOINFORMATIC DATASETS FOR DETECTING GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS SHARED BY CHRONIC PERIODONTITIS (CP) AND ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA (OSCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: DATASETS FROM GEO AND TCGA DATABASES REPORTING MRNAS, MIRNAS OR METHYLATION EXPRESSION IN HUMAN CP AND OSCC TISSUES WERE ANALYZED. DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION, FUNCTIONAL ENRICHMENT AND PROTEIN-PROTEIN INTERACTION (PPI) NETWORK ANALYSES WERE PERFORMED. DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED MIRNAS (DEMIRNAS) AND GENES (DEG) IN CP AND OSCC WERE DETERMINED. DEMIRNA-TARGET AND DEMIRNA-DEG NETWORKS WERE CONSTRUCTED. DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY INTERACTING CROSS-TALK GENES WERE SCREENED, AND THEIR PREDICTION ACCURACY AND ASSOCIATION WITH OSCC PROGNOSIS WAS DETERMINED. RESULTS: 3 DE-MIRNAS (MIR-375, MIR-3609 AND MIR-3652) EXPRESSED IN BOTH CP AND OSCC CRITICALLY REGULATED MOST DEGS. AMONG 12 DIRECTLY INTERACTING CROSS-TALK GENES, NCAPH WAS SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED WITH THE PROGNOSIS OF OSCC. NR2F2 HAD HIGHEST DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION IN CP AND OSCC. AMONG 4 CROSS-TALK GENES (FN1, MPPED1, NDEL1, AND NR2F2) DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED IN CP, 3 (FN1, MPPED1, NDEL1) WERE ALSO EXPRESSED IN OSCC. AMONG 12 INDIRECTLY INTERACTING CROSS-TALK GENES DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED IN OSCC, 3 GENES (CDCA8, HIST1H3J, AND RAD51) WERE SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO ITS PROGNOSIS. SIGNIFICANT PATHWAYS INVOLVED IN CP AND OSCC INCLUDED: CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS, CLASS I PI3K SIGNALING EVENTS, EPITHELIAL-TO-MESENCHYMAL TRANSITION AND SIGNALING EVENTS BY VEGFR1 AND VEGFR2, EGF RECEPTOR (ERBB1). CONCLUSION: BIOINFORMATIC ANALYSIS OF AVAILABLE DATASETS IMPLICATED 1 DIRECTLY INTERACTING CROSS-TALK GENE (NCAPH), 4 INDIRECTLY INTERACTING CROSS-TALK GENES (NCAPH, NR2F2, FN1, AND MPPED1) AND 3 DE-MIRNAS (HSA-MIR-375, MIR-3609 AND MIR-3652) AS SHARED GENETIC AND EPIGENETIC EXPRESSION PATTERNS BETWEEN CP AND OSCC. 2018 14 3231 26 HELICOBACTER PYLORI-INDUCED MODULATION OF THE PROMOTER METHYLATION OF WNT ANTAGONIST GENES IN GASTRIC CARCINOGENESIS. BACKGROUND: THIS STUDY AIMED TO INVESTIGATE THE CHANGES IN THE PROMOTER METHYLATION AND GENE EXPRESSION OF MULTIPLE WNT ANTAGONISTS BETWEEN THE CHRONIC INFECTION AND ERADICATION OF HELICOBACTER PYLORI (H. PYLORI) IN GASTRIC CARCINOGENESIS. METHODS: THE LEVELS OF METHYLATION AND CORRESPONDING MRNA EXPRESSION OF SEVEN WNT ANTAGONIST GENES (SFRP1, -2, -5, DKK1, -2, -3, WIF1) WERE COMPARED AMONG THE PATIENTS WITH H. PYLORI-POSITIVE GASTRIC CANCERS (GCS), AND H. PYLORI-POSITIVE AND H. PYLORI-NEGATIVE CONTROLS, BY QUANTITATIVE METHYLIGHT ASSAY AND REAL-TIME REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION (RT)-POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION (PCR), RESPECTIVELY. THE CHANGES OF THE METHYLATION AND EXPRESSION LEVELS OF THE GENES WERE ALSO COMPARED BETWEEN THE H. PYLORI ERADICATION AND H. PYLORI-PERSISTENT GROUPS 1 YEAR AFTER ENDOSCOPIC RESECTION OF GCS. RESULTS: THE METHYLATION LEVELS OF SFRP AND DKK FAMILY GENES WERE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IN THE PATIENTS WITH H. PYLORI-POSITIVE GCS AND FOLLOWED BY H. PYLORI-POSITIVE CONTROLS COMPARED WITH H. PYLORI-NEGATIVE CONTROLS (P < 0.001). SFRP1, -2, AND DKK3 GENE EXPRESSION WAS STEPWISE DOWNREGULATED FROM H. PYLORI-NEGATIVE CONTROLS, H. PYLORI-POSITIVE CONTROLS, AND TO H. PYLORI-POSITIVE GCS (P < 0.05). AMONG THE WNT ANTAGONISTS, ONLY THE DEGREES OF METHYLATION AND DOWNREGULATION OF DKK3 WERE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED AFTER H. PYLORI ERADICATION (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: EPIGENETIC SILENCING OF SFRP AND DKK FAMILY GENES MAY FACILITATE THE FORMATION OF AN EPIGENETIC FIELD DURING H. PYLORI-ASSOCIATED GASTRIC CARCINOGENESIS. THE EPIGENETIC FIELD MAY NOT BE REVERSED EVEN AFTER H. PYLORI ERADICATION EXCEPT BY DKK3 METHYLATION. 2018 15 5086 34 PILOT STUDY OF DNA METHYLATION IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS WITH NASAL POLYPS. BACKGROUND: DNA METHYLATION HAS BEEN IMPLICATED IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF ALLERGY AND ATOPY. THIS STUDY AIMED TO IDENTIFY WHETHER DNA METHYLATION ALSO PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF NASAL POLYPS (NP). METHODOLOGY: NP TISSUES WERE OBTAINED FROM 32 PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC RHINOSINUSITIS WITH BILATERAL NP. BIOPSIES OF INFERIOR TURBINATE MUCOSA (ITM) WERE TAKEN FROM 18 PATIENTS WHO UNDERWENT RHINOSEPTOPLASTY (CONTROL GROUP). THE METHYLATED GENES, WHICH WERE DETECTED BY DNA METHYLATION MICROARRAY, WERE VALIDATED BY METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION, BISULPHITE SEQUENCING, REAL-TIME POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY. RESULTS: DNA METHYLATION MICROARRAY IDENTIFIED 8,008 CPG ISLANDS IN 2,848 GENES. ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT GENES WERE FOUND TO HAVE A METHYLATED SIGNAL IN THE PROMOTER REGION IN NP SAMPLES COMPARED WITH ITM SAMPLES. THE FOUR TOP GENES THAT CHANGED, COL18A1, EP300, GNAS AND SMURF1, WERE SELECTED FOR FURTHER STUDY. THE METHYLATION FREQUENCY OF COL18A1 WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN NP SAMPLES THAN IN ITM SAMPLES. CONCLUSIONS: DNA METHYLATION MIGHT PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF NP. PROMOTER METHYLATION OF COL18A1 WAS FOUND TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED IN NP TISSUES, FURTHER STUDIES ARE NECESSARY TO CONFIRM THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE EPIGENETIC FACTORS IN THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE DEVELOPMENT OR PERSISTENCE OF NP. 2015 16 3947 32 LNCRNA UCA1 INDUCES AUTOPHAGIC GENE EXPRESSION VIA EPIGENETIC REGULATION MEDIATED BY ATG16L1 AND MIR-132-3P IN SH-SY5Y CELLS TREATED WITH RETINOIC ACID. OBJECTIVE: EPILEPSY IS A CHRONIC BRAIN DISEASE WITH RECURRENT SEIZURES. AUTOPHAGY PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN THE PROGRESSION OF EPILEPSY. THIS STUDY AIMED TO EXPLORE THE FUNCTION AND INTRINSIC MECHANISM OF THE LONG NON-CODING RNA (LNCRNA) UCA1/MIR-132-3P/ATG16L1 AXIS IN EPILEPSY VIA REGULATION OF AUTOPHAGY. METHODS: THE EXPRESSION OF LNCRNA UCA1, MIR-132-3P AND ATG16L1 WAS MEASURED IN SERUM FROM EPILEPTIC PATIENTS BY QUANTITATIVE RT-PCR. A SH-SY5Y CELL MODEL WAS FURTHER CONSTRUCTED USING RETINOIC ACID TO INVESTIGATE THE UCA1/ MIR-132-3P/ATG16L1 AXIS BY QUANTITATIVE RT-PCR, WESTERN BLOTTING, FLUORESCENCE IN SITU HYBRIDISATION, RNA IMMUNOPRECIPITATION, CHROMATIN IMMUNOPRECIPITATION, AND A DUAL-LUCIFERASE REPORTER GENE ASSAY. RESULTS: IN THE SERUM OF EPILEPTIC PATIENTS, THE LEVEL OF LNCRNA UCA1 AND ATG16L1 WAS REDUCED AND MIR-132-3P ELEVATED, COMPARED TO CONTROLS. SIMILARLY, IN THE SH-SY5Y CELL MODEL, THE LEVEL OF LNCRNA UCA1 AND ATG16L1 WAS REDUCED AND MIR-132-3P ELEVATED IN RETINOIC ACID-TREATED CELLS; LNCRNA UCA1 WAS MAINLY LOCATED IN THE CYTOPLASM. LNCRNA UCA1 OVEREXPRESSION WAS SHOWN TO PROMOTE AUTOPHAGIC GENE EXPRESSION, WHICH WAS REVERSED BY MIR-132-3P OVEREXPRESSION. MOREOVER, AUTOPHAGIC GENE EXPRESSION INDUCED BY MIR-132-3P KNOCKDOWN WAS REVERSED BY ATG16L1 KNOCKDOWN. BASED ON PRECIPITATION ASSAYS, LNCRNA UCA1 AND MIR-132-3P WERE SHOWN TO FORM A COMPLEX WITH THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR, EZH2, AND MIR-132-3P WAS SHOWN TO INTERACT WITH ATG16L1 BASED ON A LUCIFERASE ASSAY. FINALLY, LNCRNA UCA1 WAS SHOWN TO NEGATIVELY REGULATE MIR-132-3P EXPRESSION, AND MIR-132-3P WAS SHOWN TO NEGATIVELY REGULATE ATG16L1. SIGNIFICANCE: IN THIS CELL MODEL, LNCRNA UCA1 PROMOTES AUTOPHAGIC GENE EXPRESSION VIA EPIGENETIC REGULATION MEDIATED BY ATG16L1 AND MIR-132-3P. 2022 17 6674 41 USE OF METHYLATION PROFILING TO IDENTIFY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENES IN BONE MARROW MESENCHYMAL STROMAL CELLS FROM ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA. THE PRESENT STUDY AIMED TO CHARACTERIZE THE EPIGENETIC ARCHITECTURE BY STUDYING THE DNA METHYLATION SIGNATURE IN BONE MARROW MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS (BM?MSCS) FROM PATIENTS WITH ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA (AML). MICROARRAY DATASET GSE79695 WAS DOWNLOADED FROM THE GENE EXPRESSION OMNIBUS DATABASE. DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED SITES AND DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED CPG ISLANDS WERE IDENTIFIED IN BM?MSC SAMPLES FROM PATIENTS WITH AML COMPARED WITH CONTROLS. MICRORNAS (MIRS) ENCODING GENES COVERING DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED SITES WERE FOUND AND THE REGULATION NETWORK WAS CONSTRUCTED. PATHWAY ENRICHMENT ANALYSIS OF HYPERMETHYLATED GENES AND HYPOMETHYLATED GENES WAS PERFORMED, FOLLOWED BY PROTEIN?PROTEIN INTERACTION (PPI) NETWORK CONSTRUCTION. MOREOVER, THE IDENTIFIED DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENES WERE COMPARED WITH THE LEUKEMIA?RELATED MARKER/THERAPEUTIC GENES FROM THE LITERATURE. OVERALL, 228 HYPERMETHYLATED CPG SITE PROBES COVERING 183 GENE SYMBOLS AND 523 HYPOMETHYLATED CPG SITES PROBES COVERING 362 GENE SYMBOLS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE BM?MSCS FROM AML PATIENTS. FURTHERMORE, 4 GENES WITH CPG ISLAND HYPERMETHYLATION WERE IDENTIFIED, INCLUDING PEPTIDASE M20 DOMAIN CONTAINING 1 (PM20D1). THE HSA?MIR?596?ENCODING GENE MIR596 WAS FOUND TO BE HYPERMETHYLATED AND THE REGULATION NETWORK BASED ON HSA?MIR?596 AND ITS TARGETS (SUCH AS CYTOCHROME P450 FAMILY 1 SUBFAMILY B MEMBER 1) WAS CONSTRUCTED. HYPERMETHYLATED AND HYPOMETHYLATED GENES WERE ENRICHED IN DIFFERENT KYOTO ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GENES AND GENOMES PATHWAYS, INCLUDING 'HSA05221: ACUTE MYELOID LEUKEMIA' AND 'HSA05220: CHRONIC MYELOID LEUKEMIA', WHICH THE HYPOMETHYLATED GENE MITOGEN?ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE 3 (MAPK3) WAS INVOLVED IN. IN ADDITION, MAPK3, LYSINE DEMETHYLASE 2B AND RAP1A, MEMBER OF RAS ONCOGENE FAMILY WERE HUBS IN THE PPI NETWORK OF METHYLATED GENES. IN CONCLUSION, PM20D1 WITH HYPERMETHYLATION OF CPG ISLANDS MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ENERGY EXPENDITURE OF PATIENTS WITH AML. FURTHERMORE, THE ABERRANTLY HYPERMETHYLATED MIR?159?ENCODING GENE MIR159 MAY BE A POTENTIAL BIOMARKER OF AML. 2018 18 4903 19 P16 PROMOTER HYPERMETHYLATION IN HUMAN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA WITH OR WITHOUT HEPATITIS VIRUS INFECTION. BACKGROUND: EPIGENETIC ALTERATION THROUGH METHYLATION IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS IN CARCINOGENESIS. HOWEVER, THE RELATION BETWEEN HEPATITIS VIRUS INFECTION AND EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS IS POORLY UNDERSTOOD. METHODS: SIXTEEN PATIENTS WITHOUT HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) AND HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV) AND 35 PATIENTS WITH HBV OR HCV WHO UNDERWENT LIVER RESECTION FOR HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA (HCC) WERE STUDIED. MUTATION OF P53 WAS DETECTED BY DIRECT SEQUENCING. METHYLATION STATUS OF P16 WAS EVALUATED IN TUMOR AND NONCANCEROUS LIVER TISSUES BY METHYLATION-SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION. RESULTS: IN HCC WITHOUT HBV AND HCV, P53 MUTATIONS WERE DETECTED IN 5 (31%) OF 16 HCCS. METHYLATION OF P16 PROMOTER WAS DETECTED IN 2 (25%) OF 8 MODERATELY DIFFERENTIATED HCCS, 6 (75%) OF 8 POORLY DIFFERENTIATED HCCS, AND NONE OF 16 NONCANCEROUS TISSUE SPECIMENS. IN HCC WITH HBV OR HCV, P53 MUTATIONS WERE DETECTED IN 8 (23%) OF 35 HCCS. METHYLATION OF P16 PROMOTER WAS DETECTED IN 2 (100%) OF 2 WELL-DIFFERENTIATED HCCS, 13 (76%) OF 17 MODERATELY DIFFERENTIATED HCCS, 12 (75%) OF 16 POORLY DIFFERENTIATED HCCS, AND 9 (26%) OF 35 NONCANCEROUS LIVER TISSUE SPECIMENS. CONCLUSIONS: OUR RESULTS SUGGEST THAT HEPATITIS VIRUSES MIGHT INDUCE METHYLATION OF P16 PROMOTER IN LIVER WITH CHRONIC INFLAMMATION, BEFORE APPEARANCE OF HCC. 2004 19 2261 27 EPIGENETIC PROFILE IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA USING METHYLATION-SPECIFIC MULTIPLEX LIGATION-DEPENDENT PROBE AMPLIFICATION. AIM: TO ANALYZE THE METHYLATION STATUS OF 35 TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENES USING METHYLATION-SPECIFIC MULTIPLEX LIGATION-DEPENDENT PROBE AMPLIFICATION (MS-MLPA) IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA (CLL). MATERIALS & METHODS: THE DNA OF 37 SAMPLES FROM PATIENTS WITH CLL, SIX HEALTHY DONORS, AND JURKAT AND RAMOS CELL LINES WAS ANALYZED BY MS-MLPA. RESULTS: OUR RESULTS CONFIRM THAT HYPERMETHYLATION IS A COMMON AND NOT RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED EVENT IN CLL, AND SOME GENES, SUCH AS WT1, CDH13, IGSF4/TSLC1, GATA5, DAPK1 AND RARB, ARE HYPERMETHYLATED IN MORE THAN 25% OF THE ANALYZED SAMPLES. IMPORTANTLY, MS-MLPA ALSO DETECTED HYPERMETHYLATION OF SOME GENES NOT REPORTED PREVIOUSLY IN CLL, AND THEIR METHYLATION STATUS WAS CONFIRMED BY BISULFITE SEQUENCING. CONCLUSION: THESE RESULTS INDICATE THAT MS-MLPA IS A USEFUL TECHNIQUE FOR THE DETECTION OF METHYLATION IN CLL SAMPLES. SELECTING CLL-SPECIFIC METHYLATION TARGETS IN ORDER TO GENERATE A CLL-SPECIFIC MS-MLPA PROBE SET COULD ENHANCE ITS USEFULNESS AS A TOOL IN STUDIES OF RISK STRATIFICATION AND GUIDING THE BEST THERAPEUTIC DECISION. 2012 20 3081 33 GENOME-WIDE PROMOTER DNA METHYLATION PROFILING OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMAS ARISING EITHER SPONTANEOUSLY OR DUE TO CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO GINKGO BILOBA EXTRACT (GBE) IN B6C3F1/N MICE. EPIGENETIC MODIFICATIONS, SUCH AS DNA METHYLATION, PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN CARCINOGENESIS. IN A RECENT NTP STUDY, CHRONIC EXPOSURE OF B6C3F1/N MICE TO GINKGO BILOBA EXTRACT (GBE) RESULTED IN A HIGH INCIDENCE OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMAS (HCC). GENOME-WIDE PROMOTER METHYLATION PROFILING ON GBE-EXPOSED HCC (2000 MG/KG GROUP), SPONTANEOUS HCC (VEHICLE-CONTROL GROUP), AND AGE-MATCHED VEHICLE CONTROL LIVER WAS PERFORMED TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENES IN GBE-EXPOSED HCC AND SPONTANEOUS HCC. DNA METHYLATION ALTERATIONS WERE CORRELATED TO THE CORRESPONDING GLOBAL GENE EXPRESSION CHANGES. COMPARED TO CONTROL LIVER, 1296 GENE PROMOTERS (719 HYPERMETHYLATED, 577 HYPOMETHYLATED) IN GBE-EXPOSED HCC AND 738 (427 HYPERMETHYLATED, 311 HYPOMETHYLATED) GENE PROMOTERS IN SPONTANEOUS HCC WERE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED, SUGGESTING AN IMPACT OF METHYLATION ON GBE-EXPOSED HCC. DIFFERENTIAL METHYLATION OF PROMOTER REGIONS IN RELEVANT CANCER GENES (CMYC, SPRY2, DUSP5) AND THEIR CORRESPONDING DIFFERENTIAL GENE EXPRESSION WAS VALIDATED BY QUANTITATIVE PYROSEQUENCING AND QRT-PCR, RESPECTIVELY. IN CONCLUSION, WE HAVE IDENTIFIED DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED PROMOTER REGIONS OF RELEVANT CANCER GENES ALTERED IN GBE-EXPOSED HCC COMPARED TO SPONTANEOUS HCC. FURTHER STUDY OF UNIQUE SETS OF DIFFERENTIALLY METHYLATED GENES IN CHEMICAL-EXPOSED MOUSE HCC COULD POTENTIALLY BE USED TO DIFFERENTIATE TREATMENT-RELATED TUMORS FROM SPONTANEOUS-TUMORS IN CANCER BIOASSAYS AND PROVIDE ADDITIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNDERLYING EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS OF CHEMICAL CARCINOGENESIS. 2019