Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023418 (leukemia)
93,477 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A (TSA), alone, is able to activate the transcription of DNA methylation-mediated silenced genes in human cancer cells. Increase in expression and half-life of the DNA methyltransferase DNMT1 has been found in carcinomas of the colon, lung, liver, prostate, and breast cancer. This overexpression of DNMT1 is responsible for hypermethylation of regulatory sequences of many genes involved in tumorigenesis. Using quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analysis, we found that TSA down-regulate DNMT1 mRNA and protein expression in Jurkat T leukemia cells clone E6-1. We also observed that TSA decreased DNMT1 mRNA stability and reduced this transcript half-life from approximately 7 to 2h. We also found that protein biosynthesis is needed for posttranscriptional regulation of DNMT1 mRNA, which suggests the involvement of an RNase and/or mRNA stabilization protein entity in DNMT1 transcript stabilization. Our findings suggest that TSA not only alters histone acetylation, but also may affect DNA methylation.
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PMID:Trichostatin A down-regulate DNA methyltransferase 1 in Jurkat T cells. 1662 84

Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALK+ ALCL) is characterized by constitutive activation of the Janus kinase (JAK)3/signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway. SHP1, a tyrosine phosphatase that negatively regulates JAK/STAT, is frequently absent in ALK+ ALCL owing to gene methylation. To test the hypothesis that loss of SHP1 contributes to JAK3/STAT3 activation in ALK+ ALCL cells, we induced SHP1 expression using 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-AZA), an inhibitor of DNA methyltransferase, in ALK+ ALCL cell lines, and correlated with changes in the JAK3/STAT3 pathway. 5-AZA gradually restored SHP1 expression in Karpas 299 and SU-DHL-1 cells over 5 days. The initially low level of SHP1 expression did not result in significant changes to the expression or tyrosine phosphorylation of JAK3 and STAT3. However, higher levels of SHP1 seen subsequently correlated with substantial decreases in JAK3 and pJAK3, followed by pSTAT3 (but not STAT3). Importantly, the decrease in JAK3 was abrogated by MG132, a proteasome inhibitor. 5-AZA induced no significant increase in apoptosis but it sensitized ALCL cells to doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. Our findings support the concept that loss of SHP1 contributes to the constitutive activation of JAK3/STAT3 in ALK+ ALCL cells. SHP1 appears to downregulate JAK3 by two mechanisms: tyrosine dephosphorylation and increased degradation via the proteasome pathway.
Leukemia 2006 Sep
PMID:Restoration of shp1 expression by 5-AZA-2'-deoxycytidine is associated with downregulation of JAK3/STAT3 signaling in ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma. 1687 Dec 83

Alteration of lineage-specific transcriptional programs for hematopoiesis causes differentiation block and promotes leukemia development. Here, we show that AML1/ETO, the most common translocation fusion product in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), counteracts the activity of retinoic acid (RA), a transcriptional regulator of myelopoiesis. AML1/ETO participates in a protein complex with the RA receptor alpha (RARalpha) at RA regulatory regions on RARbeta2, which is a key RA target gene mediating RA activity/resistance in cells. At these sites, AML1/ETO recruits histone deacetylase, DNA methyltransferase, and DNA-methyl-CpG binding activities that promote a repressed chromatin conformation. The link among AML1/ETO, heterochromatic RARbeta2 repression, RA resistance, and myeloid differentiation block is indicated by the ability of either siRNA-AML1/ETO or the DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacytidine to revert these epigenetic alterations and to restore RA differentiation response in AML1/ETO blasts. Finally, RARbeta2 is commonly silenced by hypermethylation in primary AML blasts but not in normal hematopoietic precursors, thus suggesting a role for the epigenetic repression of the RA signaling pathway in myeloid leukemogenesis.
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PMID:Heterochromatic gene repression of the retinoic acid pathway in acute myeloid leukemia. 1724 80

Ovine leukemia/lymphoma resulting from bovine leukemia virus infection of sheep offers a large animal model for studying mechanisms underlying leukemogenesis. Silencing of viral information including Tax, the major contributor to the oncogenic potential of the virus, is critical if not mandatory for tumor progression. In this study, we have identified epigenetic mechanisms that govern the complete suppression of viral expression, using a lymphoma-derived B-cell clone carrying a silent provirus. Silencing was not relieved by injection of the malignant B cells into sheep. However, exogenous expression of Tax or treatment with either the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5'azacytidine or the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor trichostatin A rescued viral expression, as demonstrated by in vivo infectivity trials. Comparing silent and reactivated provirus, we found mechanistic connections between chromatin conformation and tumor-associated transcriptional repression. Silencing is associated with DNA methylation and decreased accessibility of promoter sequences. HDAC1 and the transcriptional corepressor mSin3A are associated with the inactive but not the reactivated promoter. Silencing correlates with a repressed chromatin structure marked by histone H3 and H4 hypoacetylation, a loss of methylation at H3 lysine 4, and an increase of H3 lysine 9 methylation. These observations point to the critical role of epigenetic mechanisms in tumor-specific virus/oncogene silencing, a potential strategy to evade immune response and favor the propagation of the transformed cell.
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PMID:Suppression of viral gene expression in bovine leukemia virus-associated B-cell malignancy: interplay of epigenetic modifications leading to chromatin with a repressive histone code. 1739 71

Methylation of DNA at 5-position of cytosine, catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases, is the predominant epigenetic modification in mammals. Aberrations in methylation play a causal role in a variety of diseases, including cancer. Recent studies have established that like mutation, methylation-mediated gene silencing often leads to tumorigenesis. Paradoxically, genome-wide DNA hypomethylation may also play a causal role in carcinogenesis by inducing chromosomal instability and spurious gene expression. Since methylation does not alter DNA base sequence, much attention has been focused recently on developing small molecule inhibitors of DNA methyltransferases that can potentially be used as anticancer agents. Vidaza (5-azacytidine), marketed by Pharmion (Boulder, CO, USA), was the first DNA methyltransferase inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for chemotherapy against myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a heterogeneous bone marrow disorder. Recently MGI Pharma Inc. (Bloomington, MN, USA) got FDA approval to market Dacogen (5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, or decitabine) for treating MDS patients. These drugs were used earlier against certain anemias to induce expression of fetal globin genes. Interest in clinical trials of these drugs as anticancer agents has been renewed only recently because of reversal of methylation-mediated silencing of critical genes in cancer. Clinical trials have shown that both drugs have therapeutic potential against leukemia such as MDS, acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. In contrast, their effectiveness with solid tumors appears to be less promising, which challenges researchers to develop inhibitors with more efficacy and less toxicity. The major hindrance of their usage as anticancer agents is their instability in vivo as well as the toxicity secondary to their excessive incorporation into DNA, which causes cell cycle arrest. Gene expression profiling in cancer cells revealed that antineoplastic property of these drugs is mediated through both methylation-dependent and -independent pathways. Recently, we have shown that treatment of cancer cells with these cytidine analogues also induces proteasomal degradation of DNA methyltransferase 1, the ubiquitously expressed enzyme upregulated in almost all cancer cells. Development of related stable drugs that can facilitate gene activation in cancer cells by enhancing degradation of DNA methyltransferases without being incorporated into DNA would be ideal for chemotherapy. In this monograph we review historical perspective and recent advances on the molecular mechanisms of action and clinical applications of these DNA hypomethylating agents.
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PMID:DNA methyltransferases as targets for cancer therapy. 1761 10

Decitabine (DAC) and 5-azacitidine have recently been approved for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome. The pharmacodynamic effects of DAC and 5-azacitidine outside their known activity as inhibitors of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) require further investigation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of DAC on the expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1), a gene with a putative CpG island surrounding its promoter region. Promoter methylation analysis of p21(WAF1/CIP1) in leukemia cells revealed the absence of CpG methylation. However, DAC upregulated p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression in a dose-dependent manner (ED(50)=103.34 nM) and induced G2/M cell cycle arrest in leukemia cells. Sequential application of DAC followed by different histone deacetylase inhibitors induced expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) synergistically. Upregulation of p21(WAF1/CIP1) paralleled DAC-induced apoptosis (ED(50)=153 nM). Low doses of DAC induced gamma-H2AX expression (ED(50)=16.5 nM) and upregulated p21(WAF1/CIP1) in congenic HCT 116 colon cancer cells in a DNMT-independent and p53-dependent fashion. Inhibition of p53 transactivation by pifithrin-alpha or the kinase activity of ATM by either the specific ATM inhibitor KU-5593 or caffeine abrogated p21(WAF1/CIP1) upregulation, indicating that DAC upregulation of p21(WAF1/CIP1) was p53- and ATM-dependent in leukemia cells. In conclusion, DAC upregulates p21(WAF1/CIP1) in DNMT-independent manner via the DNA damage/ATM/p53 axis.
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PMID:p21(WAF1/CIP1) induction by 5-azacytosine nucleosides requires DNA damage. 1822 91

Stable silencing of the INK4b-ARF-INK4a tumor suppressor locus occurs in a variety of human cancers, including malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRTs). MRTs are extremely aggressive cancers caused by the loss of the hSNF5 subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex. We found previously that, in MRT cells, hSNF5 is required for p16(INK4a) induction, mitotic checkpoint activation, and cellular senescence. Here, we investigated how the balance between Polycomb group (PcG) silencing and SWI/SNF activation affects epigenetic control of the INK4b-ARF-INK4a locus in MRT cells. hSNF5 reexpression in MRT cells caused SWI/SNF recruitment and activation of p15(INK4b) and p16(INK4a), but not of p14(ARF). Gene activation by hSNF5 is strictly dependent on the SWI/SNF motor subunit BRG1. SWI/SNF mediates eviction of the PRC1 and PRC2 PcG silencers and extensive chromatin reprogramming. Concomitant with PcG complex removal, the mixed lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1) protein is recruited and active histone marks supplant repressive ones. Strikingly, loss of PcG complexes is accompanied by DNA methyltransferase DNMT3B dissociation and reduced DNA methylation. Thus, various chromatin states can be modulated by SWI/SNF action. Collectively, these findings emphasize the close interconnectivity and dynamics of diverse chromatin modifications in cancer and gene control.
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PMID:SWI/SNF mediates polycomb eviction and epigenetic reprogramming of the INK4b-ARF-INK4a locus. 1833 16

While acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is significantly less common than acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in childhood, it is significantly more deadly with only half as many children likely to be cured with standard therapy. In addition, the typical treatment for AML is among the most toxic of treatments for pediatric cancer; it includes intensive multiagent chemotherapy and, often, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Given the poor prognosis of pediatric AML and the significant toxicity of standard AML therapy, novel therapies are needed. Improved understanding of the molecular and cellular biology of leukemia has facilitated the development of molecularly targeted therapies. In this article, we review progress to date with agents that are showing promise in the treatment of pediatric AML including targeted immunoconjugates, inhibitors of signaling molecules (e.g. FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 [FLT3], farnesyltransferase, and mammalian target of rapamycin [mTOR]), agents that target epigenetic regulation of gene expression (DNA methyltransferase inhibitors and histone deacetylase inhibitors), and proteasome inhibitors. For the specific agents in each of these classes, we summarize the published preclinical data and the clinical trials that have been completed, are in progress, or are being planned for children with AML. Finally, we discuss potential challenges to the success of molecularly targeted therapy including demonstrating adequate targeting of leukemia stem cells, developing synergistic and tolerable combinations of agents, and designing adequately powered clinical trials to test efficacy in molecularly defined subsets of patients.
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PMID:Molecularly targeted therapies for pediatric acute myeloid leukemia: progress to date. 1834 18

Myelofibrosis (MF; primary or post-essential thrombocythemia/polycythemia vera) is incurable clonal myeloproliferative disorder, with no effective treatment. Epigenetic changes play an important role in cancer pathogenesis through transcriptional silencing of critical tumor suppressor genes. We conducted a phase-II study to evaluate the activity of DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, 5-azacitidine, in patients with MF. Thirty-four patients (76% previously treated) received 5-azacitidine at 75 mg/m(2) subcutaneously daily for 7 days, every 4 weeks. Twelve (35%) patients had abnormal cytogenetics and 19 (70%) of 27 evaluable patients had JAK2(V617F) mutation. Responses occurred in 8 (24%) patients after a median of 5 months (range, 3-10). Partial response occurred in 1 (3%) patient (duration 22+ months) and clinical improvement in 7 (21%) patients (median duration 4 months; range, 2-8.5). Myelosuppression was the major adverse effect, with grade 3-4 neutropenia in 10 (29%) patients. Global DNA methylation assessed by the long interspersed nucleotide element (LINE) bisulfite/pyrosequencing assay decreased from 53% pretherapy to 44% on day 14 (P=0.0014) and returned to 50% at the end of the first 28-day cycle (P=0.016). 5-azacitidine is relatively well tolerated and results in induction of global hypomethylation in patients with MF, but results in limited clinical activity.
Leukemia 2008 May
PMID:A phase II study of 5-azacitidine for patients with primary and post-essential thrombocythemia/polycythemia vera myelofibrosis. 1850 50

The thiopurine drugs 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and 6-thioguanine (6-TG) are well-established agents for the treatment of leukaemia but their main modes of action are controversial. Thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) metabolises thiopurine drugs and influences their cytotoxic activity. TPMT, like DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), transfers methyl groups from S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and generates S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH). Since SAM levels are dependent on de novo purine synthesis (DNPS) and the metabolic products of 6-TG and 6-MP differ in their ability to inhibit DNPS, we postulated that 6-TG compared to 6-MP would have differential effects on changes in SAM and SAH levels and global DNA methylation, depending on TPMT status. To test this hypothesis, we used a human embryonic kidney cell line with inducible TPMT. Although changes in SAM and SAH levels occurred with each drug, decrease in global DNA methylation more closely reflected a decrease in DNMT activity. Inhibition was influenced by TPMT for 6-TG, but not 6-MP. The decrease in global methylation and DNMT activity with 6-MP, or with 6-TG when TPMT expression was low, were comparable to 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. However, this was not reflected in changes in methylation at the level of an individual marker gene (MAGE1A). The results suggest that a non-TPMT metabolised metabolite of 6-MP and 6-TG and the TPMT-metabolised 6-MP metabolite 6-methylthioguanosine 5'-monophosphate, contribute to a decrease in DNMT levels and global DNA methylation. As demethylating agents have shown promise in leukaemia treatment, inhibition of DNA methylation by the thiopurine drugs may contribute to their cytotoxic affects.
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PMID:The effect of thiopurine drugs on DNA methylation in relation to TPMT expression. 1870 30


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