Epigenetic Inactivation of the P53-Induced Long Noncoding RNA
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Epigenetic inactivation of the p53-induced long PNAS PLUS noncoding RNA TP53 target 1 in human cancer Angel Diaz-Lagaresa, Ana B. Crujeirasa,b,c, Paula Lopez-Serraa, Marta Solera, Fernando Setiena, Ashish Goyald,e, Juan Sandovala, Yutaka Hashimotoa, Anna Martinez-Cardúsa, Antonio Gomeza, Holger Heyna, Catia Moutinhoa, Jesús Espadaf,g, August Vidalh, Maria Paúlesh, Maica Galáni, Núria Salaj, Yoshimitsu Akiyamak, María Martínez-Iniestal, Lourdes Farrél,m, Alberto Villanueval, Matthias Grossd,e, Sven Diederichsd,e,n,o,p, Sonia Guila,1, and Manel Estellera,q,r,1 aCancer Epigenetics and Biology Program (PEBC), Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08908 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; bCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER) Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; cEndocrine Division, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; dDivision of RNA Biology and Cancer (B150), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; eInstitute of Pathology, University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; fExperimental Dermatology and Skin Biology Group, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Biomedical Research (IRYCIS), Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, 28034 Madrid, Spain; gBionanotechnology Laboratory, Bernardo O’Higgins University, Santiago 8370854, Chile; hPathology Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08907 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; iDepartment of Medical Oncology, Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08908 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; jUnit of Nutrition and Cancer, Cancer Epidemiology Research Program, ICO, IDIBELL, 08908 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; kDepartment of Molecular Oncology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 113-8510 Tokyo, Japan; lProgram Against Cancer Therapeutic Resistance (ProCURE), ICO, IDIBELL, L’Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; mLaboratory of Experimental Pathology (LAPEX), Gonçalo Moniz Research Center, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (CPQGM/ FIOCRUZ) and National Institute of Science and Technology of Tropical Diseases (INCT/DT), 40296710 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; nDivision of Cancer Research, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Medical Center–University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany; oFaculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany; pGerman Cancer Consortium (DKTK), 79106 Freiburg, Germany; qDepartament de Ciències Fisiològiques II, Escola de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, 08907 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; and rInstitució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Edited by Mariano Barbacid, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Madrid, Spain, and approved October 12, 2016 (received for review May 27, 2016) Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important regulators of cellular MALAT1 (15), or as tumor suppressors, such as LincRNA-p21 (16) homeostasis. However, their contribution to the cancer phenotype and Uc.283+A (17). still needs to be established. Herein, we have identified a p53- Several recent studies have demonstrated that lncRNAs are induced lncRNA, TP53TG1, that undergoes cancer-specific promoter deregulated in cancer tissues. Causes of this deregulation include hypermethylation-associated silencing. In vitro and in vivo assays genetic events leading to abnormal expression, such as copy identify a tumor-suppressor activity for TP53TG1 and a role in the p53 number alterations or single-nucleotide polymorphisms located in response to DNA damage. Importantly, we show that TP53TG1 binds lncRNA promoter regions (8–11). However, another possibility is to the multifaceted DNA/RNA binding protein YBX1 to prevent its that lncRNAs may themselves be targets of epigenetic disruption. nuclear localization and thus the YBX1-mediated activation of onco- In this regard, the promoter CpG island hypermethylation-asso- genes. TP53TG1 epigenetic inactivation in cancer cells releases the ciated silencing of coding tumor-suppressor genes and micro- transcriptional repression of YBX1-targeted growth-promoting genes RNAs is a well-established hallmark of human cancer (18–21). and creates a chemoresistant tumor. TP53TG1 hypermethylation in In recent times, a relatively small number of lncRNAs, such as primary tumors is shown to be associated with poor outcome. The epigenetic loss of TP53TG1 therefore represents an altered event in an Significance lncRNA that is linked to classical tumoral pathways, such as p53 sig- naling, but is also connected to regulatory networks of the cancer cell. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are starting to be recognized as critical molecules for cellular transformation, although only DNA methylation | long noncoding RNA | epigenetics | cancer a few candidates have so far been characterized. Here we re- port that TP53TG1 is an lncRNA that is critical for the correct t has been estimated that only 2% of the genome is transcribed response of p53 to DNA damage. The cancer growth suppres- Iinto protein-coding RNAs (1), so most of the transcriptome sor features of TP53TG1 are linked to its ability to block the corresponds to noncoding transcripts, which are classified tumorigenic activity of the RNA binding protein YBX1. The DNA according to their length and structural properties (2, 3). Among methylation-associated silencing of TP53TG1 produces aggres- the small noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), the abundant class of sive tumors that are resistant to cellular death when DNA- miRNAs (19–25 nt) regulates gene expression through interac- damaging agents and small targeted molecules are used. Our tions based on their complementarity with target mRNAs (4). study provides an example of a tumor suppressor lncRNA un- These ncRNAs have been widely studied in the context of cancer dergoing an epigenetic lesion in cancer that is placed at the cells (5, 6). The other main group of ncRNAs is the long ncRNAs crossroads of DNA damage and oncogenic pathways. (lncRNAs; arbitrarily >200 nt), which are defined as lacking Author contributions: A.D.-L., S.G., and M.E. designed research; A.D.-L., A.B.C., P.L.-S., protein-coding potential but otherwise often display mRNA-like M.S., F.S., A. Goyal, J.S., Y.H., A.M.-C., A. Gomez, H.H., C.M., J.E., A. Vidal, M.P., M. Galan, properties, including multiexonic gene structures and poly(A) tails N.S., Y.A., M.M.-I., L.F., A. Villanueva, M. Gross, S.D., and S.G. performed research; A.D.-L., (2, 3). LncRNAs are associated with a variety of regulatory functions, A.B.C., P.L.-S., M.S., F.S., A. Goyal, J.S., Y.H., A.M.-C., A. Gomez, H.H., C.M., J.E., A. Vidal, M.P., M. Galan, N.S., Y.A., M.M.-I., L.F., A. Villanueva, M. Gross, S.D., S.G., and M.E. ana- including chromatin-related roles, splicing control, and transcrip- lyzed data; and A.D.-L., S.G., and M.E. wrote the paper. tional regulation (7–9). Despite recent reports describing aberrant The authors declare no conflict of interest. expression of lncRNAs in human tumors (8–11), few of these mol- This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. ecules have been carefully characterizedwithrespecttotheirfunc- Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. tional roles in the promotion or inhibition of carcinogenesis (12, 1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected] or sguil@ 13). However, significant exceptions exist, and mechanisms of idibell.cat. action and downstream cellular effects have been demonstrated This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. MEDICAL SCIENCES for lncRNAs acting as oncogenes, such as HOTAIR (14) and 1073/pnas.1608585113/-/DCSupplemental. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1608585113 PNAS | Published online November 7, 2016 | E7535–E7544 Downloaded by guest on September 24, 2021 transcribed–ultraconserved regions (22), antisense RNAs (23), DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) and DNMT3b (double knock- and small nucleolar RNAs (24), have been shown to undergo out, DKO) (25). DKO cells have drastically reduced DNMT activity, cancer-specific epigenetic inactivation, but the field of DNA 5-methylcytosine DNA content, and, above all, a release of coding methylation-dependent silencing of lncRNAs remains largely un- genes and microRNA silencing associated with promoter CpG island explored. In this study, we have found that the epigenetic loss of hypomethylation (25). We wanted to identify cancer-specific DNA the lncRNA TP53TG1 enhances tumor progression, prevents an methylation events in lncRNA loci, so we also included two samples effective p53 response to DNA damage, creates a chemoresistant of normal colon mucosa in our study design. We obtained the phenotype, and unleashes the transforming capacities of its part- DNA methylation profile of the wild-type HCT-116 cells, the derived ner, identified herein, the RNA binding protein YBX1. DKO cells, and the aforementioned normal colon using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 (450K) microarray, which interrogates 482,422 Results CpG sites (26). Noting that the platform includes 104 annotated TP53TG1 Shows Cancer-Specific DNA Methylation-Associated Transcriptional lncRNAs with a 5′-CpG island (SI Appendix,TableS1)enabledusto Silencing. To characterize cancer-specific DNA methylation changes narrow our search to the candidate methylated positions with a possible that affect lncRNA expression, we followed the experimental work-