Aberrant Promoter Methylation at CpG Cytosines Induce the Upregulation of the E2F5 Gene in Breast Cancer

作者：Ali Arshad; Ullah Farman; Ali Irum Sabir; Faraz Ahmad; Khan Mumtaz; Shah Syed Tahir Ali; Ali Nawab; Saeed Muhammad^*

来源：Journal of Breast Cancer, 2016, 19(2): 133-141.

DOI：10.4048/jbc.2016.19.2.133

• Breast neoplasms
• E2F5 transcription factor
• Methylation
• Promoter

The promoter methylation status of cell cycle regulatory genes plays a crucial role in the regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle. CpG cytosines are actively subjected to methylation during tumorigenesis, resulting in gain/loss of function. E2F5 gene has growth repressive activities; various studies suggest its involvement in tumorigenesis. This study aims to investigate the epigenetic regulation of E2F5 in breast cancer to better understand tumor biology. Methods: The promoter methylation status of 50 breast tumor tissues and adjacent normal control tissues was analyzed. mRNA expression was determined using SYBR green quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and methylation-specific PCR was performed for bisulfite-modified genomic DNA using E2F5-specific primers to assess promoter methylation. Data was statistically analyzed. Results: Significant (p<0.001) upregulation was observed in E2F5 expression among tumor tissues, relative to the control group. These samples were hypo-methylated at the E2F5 promoter region in the tumor tissues, compared to the control. Change in the methyl-ation status (Delta meth) was significantly lower (p=0.022) in the tumor samples, indicating possible involvement in tumorigenesis. Patients at the postmenopausal stage showed higher methylation (75%) than those at the premenopausal stage (23.1%). Interestingly, methylation levels gradually increased from the early to the advanced stages of the disease (p<0.001), which suggests a putative role of E2F5 methylation in disease progression that can significantly modulate tumor biology at more advanced stage and at postmenopausal age (Pearson's r= 0.99 and 0.86, respectively). Among tissues with different histological status, methylation frequency was higher in invasive lobular carcinoma (80.0%), followed by invasive ductal carcinoma (46.7%) and ductal carcinoma in situ (20.0%). Conclusion: Methylation is an important epigenetic factor that might be involved in the upregulation of E2F5 gene in tumor tissues,

• 出版日期2016-6