Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Pivot Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Target Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Query: EC:2.1.1.37 (
DNA methyltransferase
)
4,983
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
It is well documented that cancer cells have abnormal methylation patterns often caused by faulty methylating machinery. Specifically,
E-cadherin, NFATC3
, and
PLP2
are 3 genes known to be aberrantly methylated in cancer cells. These genes are well documented for their role in signaling pathways involved with cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, and other signs of tumor progression. Therefore, changes in gene expression of
CDH1, NFATC3
, and
PLP2
due to aberrant methylation can lead to profound changes in cellular function and tumor formation. In order to ensure that previous
in vitro
and
in vivo
methylation studies match what is observed in the clinic, we utilized a bioinformatics approach to complete an extensive analysis of methylation patterns of these 3 genes, analyzing over 5000 patient samples, across all cancers for which both normal and tumor tissues were available. Specifically, we analyzed overall and site-specific methylation patterns, at CpG islands and shores, of all 3 genes across 14 cancer types. Furthermore, we compared these methylation levels in normal and tumor samples of both matched and unmatched patient samples in order to determine any differences between groups. Finally, we examined whether an aberrant
DNA methyltransferase
,
DNMT3B7
, known to be expressed in cancer cells and to alter methylation patterns
in vitro
correlated with altered overall and site-specific methylation of
CDH1, NFATC3
, and
PLP2
in these patient samples. Our results indicate that methylation patterns of
CDH1
and
NFATC3
were unexpectedly varied across tumors, contrary to previous studies performed
in vitro
, while
PLP2
showed the expected hypomethylation pattern in tumor tissues. We also observed some correlation between
DNMT3B7
expression and methylation patterns of these genes, but patterns were inconsistent. Taken together, these results emphasize the necessity for
in vivo
and patient studies rather than a complete reliance on
in vitro
data and provide multiple areas of future research.
...
PMID:
E-Cadherin, NFATC3
, and
PLP2
Are Differentially Methylated in Multiple Cancers. 3317 91
