Involvement of bivalent histone modification in age-specific cancer susceptibility

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K18420
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Tumor biology
• Research Institution: National Cancer Center Japan
• Principal Investigator: Hattori Naoko 国立研究開発法人国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 研究員 (30611090)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: エピジェネティクス / ヒストン修飾 / 乳腺発がん

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To reveal the molecular mechanism of age-specific cancer susceptibility of mammary glands, I investigated the involvement of bivalent histone modification. ChIP-chip analysis of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 using rat mammary epithelial cells showed that 91 genes were identified as the bivalent genes in sensitive period. Among the 91 genes, 7 genes were methylated in rat mammary carcinomas, and 4 genes did not express in normal mammary epithelial cells. The human homolog of one gene was known as a tumor suppressor gene that is methylation-silenced in breast cancer. I identified the sensitive period-specific bivalent genes in mammary gland, which were methylated in mammary carcinoma, suggesting that bivalent modification might be a seed of DNA methylation during carcinogenesis.

Free Research Field

分子生物学