Involvement of histone reader proteins in maintenance of pluripotency of normal and cancer stem cells

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25830094
• 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 独立行政法人国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 研究員 (30611090)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: エピジェネティクス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, to identify histone reader proteins involved in the maintenance of pluripotency of normal and cancer stem cells, we analyzed the function of chromodomain protein, Cdyl2. Mouse embryonic stem cells (ESC) with Cdyl2 reduction by knock down system and with increase expression of exogenous Cdyl2 showed that the differentiation ability of ESC was perturbed by the change of Cdyl2 expression level. ChIP assay revealed that Cdyl2 was enriched at the promoter regions of differentiation-associated genes. Furthermore, immunoprecipitation-western blotting showed that Cdyl2 co-localized with EZH2, and recognized H3K27me3. These findings demonstrate that Cdyl2 is involved in the maintenance of pluripotency in ESC, and suggest that Cdyl2 represses development-associated genes to keep an undifferentiated state.

Free Research Field

分子生物学