δEF1 associates with DNMT1 and maintains DNA methylation of the E-cadherin promoter in breast cancer cells.

ABSTRACT: Abnormal DNA methylation at the C-5 position of cytosine (5mC) of CpG dinucleotides is a well-known epigenetic feature of cancer. Levels of E-cadherin, which is regularly expressed in epithelial tissues, are frequently reduced in epithelial tumors due to transcriptional repression, sometimes accompanied by hypermethylation of the promoter region. δEF1 family proteins (δEF1/ZEB1 and SIP1/ZEB2), key regulators of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), suppress E-cadherin expression at the transcriptional level. We recently showed that levels of mRNAs encoding δEF1 proteins are regulated reciprocally with E-cadherin level in breast cancer cells. Here, we examined the mechanism underlying downregulation of E-cadherin expression in three basal-type breast cancer cells in which the E-cadhe

SUBMITTER: Fukagawa A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4312126 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature