TFG lauracorcolesgil

The role of DNA methyla0on in carcinogenesis Laura Córcoles Gil Grau en biologia. Curs 2013/2014. Facultat de Biociències. INTRODUCTION. DNA METHYLATION AND CANCER. Epigene'cs is the study of the group of heritable modiﬁca'ons that do not change the sequence of the bases of the DNA but change DNA conforma'on and as a consequence the expression of genes. Epigene'c mechanisms regulate important biological processes like the ones responsible of cellular division and diﬀeren'a'on involved in disease like cancer so the disrup'on of the epigenome contributes to cancer development. Although there are many epigene'c mechanisms altered in cancer, the best-‐studied one is the aberrant methyla'on of DNA. Cancer cells show a diﬀerent methyla'on paEern compared to normal cells. The hypermethyla'on of CpG islands oHen causes the transcrip'onal inac'va'on of tumour suppressor genes directly driving the carcinogenic process. Methyla0on patern compara0on. Clinical u0lity. Transformed cells with speciﬁc hypermethyla'on paEerns on certain genes are reliable biomarkers for par'cular types and stages of cancer. They are clinically useful for tumour detec'on, outcome predic'on, treatment selec'on and monitoring. Methyla0on progression from normal to metastasic 0ssue. (Adapted from Barillot et al, 2012) DNA methyla0on detec0on methods. DNA methyla'on can be found in several types of biological ﬂuids so it can be obtained noninvasively and analysed. The majority of methods for methyla'on analysis begin with the bisulphite conversion that creates diﬀerent sequences in methylated and unmethylated fragments that can be detected by a variety of techniques. Bisulphite modiﬁca0on for methyla0on assays. (Adapted from Qureshi et al, 2010) Methodes to detect DNA methyla0on and comparaison of their features. (Adapted from Qureshi et al, 2010) Epigene0c therapy. In contrast to gene'c altera'ons, gene silencing by epigene'c modiﬁca'ons is poten'ally reversible and there have been developed several drugs against diﬀerent types of epigene'c processes. DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi) are the best known of these drugs. Two of them (azaci'dine and decitabine) have been approved by the Food and Drug Administra'on (FDA). When these compounds get to the DNA, they form a covalent irreversible complex with DNMTs trapping them. Mechanisms of DNMTi azaci0dine. (Adapted from Gros et al, 2012) EXAMPLE OF EPIGENETIC THERAPY. It was found taht notable propor'on of the mutated genes in Myelodysplas'c Syndrome (MDS) aﬀect genes involved in epigene'c maintenance. The most well-‐studied altera'on is the aberrant DNA methyla'on. Epigene'cally ac've drugs azaci'dine and decitabine have been approved for treatment of this type of cancer introducing a new op'on of treatment that was limited before to toxic tradi'onal induc'on chemotherapeu'cs. Azaci0dine results. Decitabine results. -‐  Improves overall survival (OS) -‐  Delays the transforma'on to AML in high-‐grade MDS pa'ents -‐  Produces signiﬁcant responses in pa'ents with low blast count AML Overall survival results. (Adapted from Fenaux et al, 2009) Percentage of pa0ents free of red blood cell transfusion in each cycle of treatment. (Adapted from Kantarjian et al, 2006) -‐  Produces red blood cell transfusion-‐independence -‐ Produces elonga'on of progression-‐free survival -‐ Improves global healt status by improving fa'gue and physical func'oning. Percentage of progression-‐free survival over 0me. (Adapted from Lübbert et al, 2011) Percentage of cumula0ve incidence of AML. (Adapted from Lübbert et al, 2011) CONCLUSIONS. Epigene'c changes are associated with cancer development but are also progressive and reversible and these makes them a poten'al target for the therapeu'c interven'on and development of tumour preven'on strategies. Aberrant methyla'on is the most studied epigenome altera'on seen in cancer. The purpose of epigene'c therapy is to reverse the epigene'c altera'ons in cancers cells and restore the “normal epigenome”. Of all the DNMTi discovered, azaci'dine and decitabine have already demonstrated the u'lity of the epigene'c therapy that opens a possibility of stopping some types of cancer development but there is s'll a lot of work to do ﬁnding speciﬁc altera'ons for each cancer and the right drugs and doses for treatment. REFERENCES. -‐ Esteller M. 2011. Epigene0c changes in cancer. F100 Biology Reports, 3(9). -‐ Qureshi S, Bashir M, Yaqinuddin A. 2010. U0lity of DNA methyla0on markers for diagnosing cancer. Interna'onal Journal of Surgery, 8(3):194-‐198. -‐ Gros C, Fahy J, Halby L. 2012. DNA methyla0on inhibitors in cancer: recent and future approaches. Biochimie, 94(11):2280-‐2296. -‐ Lübbert M, Suciu S, Baila L. 2011. Low-‐dose decitabine versus best suppor0ve care in elderly pa0ents with intermediate or high-‐risk myelodysplas0c syndrome (MDS) inteligible for intensive chemotherapy: ﬁnal results of the randomized phase III study of the European Organisa0on for Research and the German MDS study group. J clin Oncol, 29:1987-‐1996. -‐ Griﬃths E, Gore S. 2013. Epigene0c therapies in MDS and AML. Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 754:253-‐283.