Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation of TOX3 Expression in Breast Cancer

Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified low penetrance and high frequency single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that contribute to genetic susceptibility of breast cancer. The SNPs at 16q12, close to the TOX3 and CASC16 genes, represent one of the susceptibility loci identified by GWAS, showing strong evidence for breast cancer association across various populations. To examine molecular mechanisms of TOX3 regulation in breast cancer, we investigated both genetic and epigenetic factors using cell lines and datasets derived from primary breast tumors available through The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). TOX3 expression is highly up-regulated in luminal subtype tumors compared to normal breast tissues or basal-like tumors. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analyses revealed significant associations of rs3803662 and rs4784227 genotypes with TOX3 expression in breast tumors. Bisulfite sequencing of four CpG islands in the TOX3 promoter showed a clear difference between luminal and basal-like cancer cell lines. 5-Aza-2’-deoxycytidine treatment of a basal-like cancer cell line increased expression of TOX3. TCGA dataset verified significantly lower levels of methylation of the promoter in luminal breast tumors with an inverse correlation between methylation and expression of TOX3. Methylation QTL (mQTL) analyses showed a weak or no correlation of rs3803662 or rs4784227 with TOX3 promoter methylation in breast tumors, indicating an independent relationship between the genetic and epigenetic events. These data suggest a complex system of TOX3 regulation in breast tumors, driven by germline variants and somatic epigenetic modifications in a subtype specific manner.     

Differential vitamin D 24-hydroxylase/CYP24A1 gene promoter methylation in endothelium from benign and malignant human prostate

Epigenetic alterations occur in tumor-associated vessels in the tumor microenvironment. Methylation of the CYP24A1 gene promoter differs in endothelial cells isolated from tumors and non-tumor microenvironments in mice. The epigenetic makeup of endothelial cells of human tumor-associated vasculature is unknown due to difficulty of isolating endothelial cells populations from a heterogeneous tissue microenvironment. To ascertain CYP24A1 promoter methylation in tumor-associated endothelium, we utilized laser microdissection guided by CD31 immunohistochemistry to procure endothelial cells from human prostate tumor specimens. Prostate tissues were obtained following robotic radical prostatectomy from men with clinically localized prostate cancer. Adjacent histologically benign prostate tissues were used to compare endothelium from benign versus tumor microenvironments. Sodium bisulfite sequencing of CYP24A1 promoter region showed that the average CYP24A1 promoter methylation in the endothelium was 20% from the tumor microenvironment compared with 8.2% in the benign microenvironment (p < 0.05). A 2-fold to 17-fold increase in CYP24A1 promoter methylation was observed in the prostate tumor endothelium compared with the matched benign prostate endothelium in four patient samples, while CYP24A1 promoter methylation remained unchanged in two patient samples. In addition, there is no correlation of the level of CYP24A1 promoter methylation in prostate tumor-associated endothelium with that of epithelium/stroma. This study demonstrates that the CYP24A1 promoter is methylated in tumor-associated endothelium, indicating that epigenetic alterations in CYP24A1 may play a role in determining the phenotype of tumor-associated vasculature in the prostate tumor microenvironment.Key words: CYP24A1, DNA methylation, human prostate cancer, tumor endothelium, laser microdissection