Retrotransposon hypomethylation in melanoma and expression of a placenta-specific gene.

Autor: Macaulay EC; Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development, Auckland, New Zealand., Roberts HE; Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development, Auckland, New Zealand., Cheng X; Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand., Jeffs AR; Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand., Baguley BC; Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand., Morison IM; Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development, Auckland, New Zealand.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2014 Apr 23; Vol. 9 (4), pp. e95840. Date of Electronic Publication: 2014 Apr 23 (Print Publication: 2014).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095840
Abstrakt: In the human placenta, DNA hypomethylation permits the expression of retrotransposon-derived genes that are normally silenced by methylation in somatic tissues. We previously identified hypomethylation of a retrotransposon-derived transcript of the voltage-gated potassium channel gene KCNH5 that is expressed only in human placenta. However, an RNA sequence from this placental-specific transcript has been reported in melanoma. This study examined the promoter methylation and expression of the retrotransposon-derived KCNH5 transcript in 25 melanoma cell lines to determine whether the acquisition of 'placental' epigenetic marks is a feature of melanoma. Methylation and gene expression analysis revealed hypomethylation of this retrotransposon in melanoma cell lines, particularly in those samples that express the placental KCNH5 transcript. Therefore we propose that hypomethylation of the placental-specific KCNH5 promoter is frequently associated with KCNH5 expression in melanoma cells. Our findings show that melanoma can develop hypomethylation of a retrotransposon-derived gene; a characteristic notably shared with the normal placenta.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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