Development of an in vivo assay system for aberrant DNA methylation

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23650589
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Carcinogenesis
• Research Institution: National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: TAKADA ERIKO 独立行政法人国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 特任研究員 (50300942)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2013
• Keywords: エピジェネティクス / DNAメチル化 / 培養細胞 / LacI / 検出系

Research Abstract

Our knowledge of the factors that induce aberrant DNA methylation is limited. The present study aimed to develop an assay system to detect aberrant DNA methylation in vivo. The vector, in which LacI was inserted into downstream of the promoter CpG island, and the vector, in which EGFP as the reporter gene was inserted into downstream of lacO, were stably introduced into a human colon cancer cell line. The cells induced aberrant methylation of the promoter with green fluorescence during xenograft tumor formation in nude mice. In the tumor without fluorescence, no methylation was induced. These results indicate that cell lines constructed in this study may have the ability to detect induction of aberrant methylation. In the next step, construction of transgenic mouse using this strategy would be expected.