Dnmt3a protects active chromosome domains against cancer-associated hypomethylation.

ABSTRACT: Changes in genomic DNA methylation patterns are generally assumed to play an important role in the etiology of human cancers. The Dnmt3a enzyme is required for the establishment of normal methylation patterns, and mutations in Dnmt3a have been described in leukemias. Deletion of Dnmt3a in a K-ras-dependent mouse lung cancer model has been shown to promote tumor progression, which suggested that the enzyme might suppress tumor development by stabilizing DNA methylation patterns. We have used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing to comprehensively characterize the methylomes from Dnmt3a wildtype and Dnmt3a-deficient mouse lung tumors. Our results show that profound global methylation changes can occur in K-ras-induced lung cancer. Dnmt3a wild-type tumors were characterized by large hypomethylat

SUBMITTER: Raddatz G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3527206 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature