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P W Laird

Publications and source records attributed to P W Laird.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Quantitative analysis of associations between DNA hypermethylation, hypomethylation, and DNMT RNA levels in ovarian tumors.

How hypermethylation and hypomethylation of different parts of the genome in cancer are related to each other and to DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) gene expression is ill defined. We used ovarian epithelial tumors of different malignant potential to look for associations between 5'-gene region or promoter hypermethylation, satellite, or global DNA hypomethylation, and RNA levels for ten DNMT isoforms. In the quantitative MethyLight assay, six of the 55 examined gene loci (LTB4R, MTHFR, CDH13, PGR, CDH1, and IGSF4) were significantly hypermethylated relative to the degree of malignancy (after adjustment for multiple comparisons; P < 0.001). Importantly, hypermethylation of these genes was associated with degree of malignancy independently of the association of satellite or global DNA hypomethylation with degree of malignancy. Cancer-related increases in methylation of only two studied genes, LTB4R and MTHFR, which were appreciably methylated even in control tissues, were associated with DNMT1 RNA levels. Cancer-linked satellite DNA hypomethylation was independent of RNA levels for all DNMT3B isoforms, despite the ICF syndrome-linked DNMT3B deficiency causing juxtacentromeric satellite DNA hypomethylation. Our results suggest that there is not a simple association of gene hypermethylation in cancer with altered DNMT RNA levels, and that this hypermethylation is neither the result nor the cause of satellite and global DNA hypomethylation.

Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous↗

CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) of colorectal cancer is best characterised by quantitative DNA methylation analysis and prospective cohort studies.

BACKGROUND: The concept of CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) is not universally accepted. Even if specific clinicopathological features have been associated with CIMP, investigators often failed to demonstrate a bimodal distribution of the number of methylated markers, which would suggest CIMP as a distinct subtype of colorectal cancer. Previous studies primarily used methylation specific polymerase chain reaction which might detect biologically insignificant low levels of methylation. AIM: To demonstrate a distinct genetic profile of CIMP colorectal cancer using quantitative DNA methylation analysis that can distinguish high from low levels of DNA methylation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (MethyLight) assays and measured DNA methylation (percentage of methylated reference) of five carefully selected loci (promoters of CACNA1G, CDKN2A (p16), CRABP1, MLH1, and NEUROG1) in 460 colorectal cancers from large prospective cohorts. RESULTS: There was a clear bimodal distribution of 80 microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) tumours according to the number of methylated promoters, with no tumours showing 3/5 methylated loci. Thus we defined CIMP as having >or=4/5 methylated loci, and 17% (78) of the 460 tumours were classified as CIMP. CIMP was significantly associated with female sex, MSI, BRAF mutations, and wild-type KRAS. Both CIMP MSI-H tumours and CIMP microsatellite stable (MSS) tumours showed much higher frequencies of BRAF mutations (63% and 54%) than non-CIMP counterparts (non-CIMP MSI-H (0%, p<10(-5)) and non-CIMP MSS tumours (6.6%, p<10(-4)), respectively). CONCLUSION: CIMP is best characterised by quantitative DNA methylation analysis. CIMP is a distinct epigenotype of colorectal cancer and may be less frequent than previously reported.

Colorectal Neoplasms↗

DNA methylation profiles of female steroid hormone-driven human malignancies.

Tumor DNA contains valuable clues about the origin and pathogenesis of human cancers. Alterations in DNA methylation can lead to silencing of genes associated with distinct tumorigenic pathways. These pathway-specific DNA methylation changes help define tumor-specific DNA methylation profiles that can be used to further our understanding of tumor development, as well as provide tools for molecular diagnosis and early detection of cancer. Female sex hormones have been implicated in the etiology of several of the women's cancers including breast, endometrial, ovarian, and proximal colon cancers. We have reviewed the DNA methylation profiles of these cancers to determine whether the hormonal regulation of these cancers results in specific DNA methylation alterations. Although subsets of tumors in each of these four types of cancers were found to share some DNA methylation alterations, we did not find evidence for global hormone-specific DNA methylation alterations, suggesting that female sex hormones may participate in different tumorigenic pathways that are associated with distinct DNA methylation-based molecular signatures. One such pathway may include MLH1 methylation in the context of the CpG island methylator phenotype.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

Phase I trial of continuous infusion 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine.

PURPOSE: To identify a dose of the demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (DAC) with acceptable side effects, and to study its effect on the methylation patterns of relevant genes in tumor biopsies before and after treatment with a novel methylation assay using real-time PCR. METHODS: A group of 19 patients with metastatic solid tumors were treated with DAC by continuous intravenous infusion over 72 h, days 1-3 of a 28-day cycle. Tumor biopsies were taken before and 7 days after starting DAC. RESULTS: The dose levels studied were 20, 30 and 40 mg/m(2). Grade 4 neutropenia was found in two of five patients at 40 mg/m(2) and one of six patients at 30 mg/m(2). No objective responses were seen in this study. Steady-state DAC levels of 0.1 to 0.2 microM were achieved in the 30 and 40 mg/m(2) cohorts. Changes in methylation were observed, but no single gene consistently demonstrated evidence of demethylation. CONCLUSIONS: DAC was tolerated at a dose of 30 mg/m(2) per day for a 72-h intravenous infusion. Changes in gene methylation were observed.

Adult↗

Prolonged culture of normal chorionic villus cells yields ICF syndrome-like chromatin decondensation and rearrangements.

Untreated cultures from normal chorionic villus (CV) or amniotic fluid-derived (AF) samples displayed dramatic cell passage-dependent increases in aberrations in the juxtacentromeric heterochromatin of chromosomes 1 or 16 (1qh or 16qh). They showed negligible levels of chromosomal aberrations in primary culture and no other consistent chromosomal abnormality at any passage. By passage 8 or 9, 82 +/- 7% of the CV metaphases from all eight studied samples exhibited 1qh or 16qh decondensation and 25 +/- 16% had rearrangements in these regions. All six analyzed late-passage AF cultures displayed this regional decondensation and recombination in 54 +/- 16 and 3 +/- 3% of the metaphases, respectively. Late-passage skin fibroblasts did not show these aberrations. The chromosomal anomalies resembled those diagnostic for the ICF syndrome (immunodeficiency, centromeric region instability, and facial anomalies). ICF patients have constitutive hypomethylation at satellite 2 DNA (Sat2) in 1qh and 16qh, generally as the result of mutations in the DNA methyltransferase gene DNMT3B. At early and late passages, CV DNA was hypomethylated and AF DNA was hypermethylated both globally and at Sat2. DNMT1, DNMT3A, or DNMT3B RNA levels did not differ significantly between CV and AF cultures or late and early passages. The high degree of methylation of Sat2 in late-passage AF cells indicates that hypomethylation of this repeat is not necessary for 1qh decondensation. Sat2 hypomethylation may nonetheless favor 1qh and 16qh anomalies because CV cultures, with their Sat2 hypomethylation, displayed 1qh and 16qh decondensation and rearrangements at significantly lower passage numbers than did AF cultures. Also, CV cultures had much higher ratios of ICF-like rearrangements to heterochromatin decondensation in chromosomes 1 and 16. These cultures may serve as models to help elucidate the biological consequences of cancer-associated satellite DNA hypomethylation.

Amniotic Fluid↗

Global and gene-specific epigenetic patterns in human bladder cancer genomes are relatively stable in vivo and in vitro over time.

We used a methylation-sensitive arbitrarily primed PCR technique to analyze, in a nonselective manner, methylation alterations at GC-rich regions of the genome in metachronous tumors and their derived cell lines from two patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. The methylation status of the majority of evaluable sequences (83%) remained unchanged in the tumors from both patients relative to a panel of normal urothelium samples obtained from individuals free of bladder disease, in which we measured <1% interindividual variation. The 17% of methylation alterations represents sequences altered in either a cancer-specific (3%), tumor-specific (1%), or patient-specific (13%) manner. The proportion of the altered sequences analyzed that were CpG islands corresponds to approximately 7000 CpG islands altered in the genome. Surprisingly, few additional changes in methylation patterns were observed in cell lines derived from the tumors; however, all of the cell lines showed altered methylation in a common set of 3% of evaluable sequences. Three genes known to be aberrantly methylated in bladder cancer (p16, p15, and PAX6) were studied in detail by methylation-sensitive single nucleotide primer extension and showed increased methylation in culture at preexisting methylated sites for all of the exons but no de novo methylation in culture for the promoters in any cell line. Therefore, our investigation provides the first serial as well as parallel quantitation of the global epigenetic stability in two independent bladder cancer genomes over the course of progression and in culture. In addition, our investigation also provides the first direct comparison of the epigenetic and genetic patterns on the global scale, showing the epigenetic pattern to be relatively stable in vivo and in vitro over time within an individual.

Carcinoma, Transitional Cell↗

Epigenetic patterns in the progression of esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) arises after normal squamous mucosa undergoes metaplasia to specialized columnar epithelium (intestinal metaplasia or Barrett's esophagus), which can then ultimately progress to dysplasia and subsequent malignancy. Epigenetic studies of this model have thus far been limited to the DNA methylation analysis of a few genes. In this study, we analyzed a panel of 20 genes using a quantitative, high-throughput methylation assay, METHYLIGHT: We used this broader approach to gain insight into concordant methylation behavior between genes and to generate epigenomic fingerprints for the different histological stages of EAC. Our study included a total of 104 tissue specimens from 51 patients with different stages of Barrett's esophagus and/or associated adenocarcinoma. We screened 84 of these samples with the full panel of 20 genes and found distinct classes of methylation patterns in the different types of tissue. The most informative genes were those with an intermediate frequency of significant hypermethylation [ranging from 15% (CDKN2A) to 60% (MGMT) of the samples]. This group could be further subdivided into three classes, according to the absence (CDKN2A, ESR1, and MYOD1) or presence (CALCA, MGMT, and TIMP3) of methylation in normal esophageal mucosa and stomach, or the infrequent methylation of normal esophageal mucosa accompanied by methylation in all normal stomach samples (APC). The other genes were less informative, because the frequency of hypermethylation was below 5% (ARF, CDH1, CDKN2B, GSTP1, MLH1, PTGS2, and THBS1), completely absent (CTNNB1, RB1, TGFBR2, and TYMS1), or ubiquitous (HIC1 and MTHFR), regardless of tissue type. Each class undergoes unique epigenetic changes at different steps of disease progression of EAC, suggesting a step-wise loss of multiple protective barriers against CpG island hypermethylation. The aberrant hypermethylation occurs at many different loci in the same tissues, suggestive of an overall deregulation of methylation control in EAC tumorigenesis. However, we did not find evidence for a distinct group of tumors with a CpG island methylator phenotype. Finally, we found that normal and metaplastic tissues from patients with evidence of associated dysplasia or cancer had a significantly higher incidence of hypermethylation than similar tissues from patients with no further progression of their disease. The fact that the samples from these two groups of patients were histologically indistinguishable, yet molecularly distinct, suggests that the occurrence of such hypermethylation may provide a clinical tool to identify patients with premalignant Barrett's who are at risk for further progression.

Adenocarcinoma↗

DNA methylation analysis by MethyLight technology.

MethyLight is a sensitive, fluorescence-based real-time PCR technique that is capable of quantitating DNA methylation at a particular locus by using DNA oligonucleotides that anneal differentially to bisulfite-converted DNA according to the methylation status in the original genomic DNA. The use of three oligonucleotides (forward and reverse primers, and interpositioned probe) in MethyLight, any one or more of which can be used for methylation discrimination, allows for a high degree of specificity, sensitivity, and flexibility in methylation detection.

CpG Islands↗

DNA methylation: an alternative pathway to cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an introduction to the concept of DNA methylation and its function in normal cells, and to explain the possible mechanisms as to how abnormalities in this phenomenon can relate to carcinogenesis. The clinical implications with reference to common malignancies encountered in surgical practice are discussed. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Methylation of DNA is a heritable, enzyme-induced modification to DNA structure without alteration of the specific sequence of the base pairs responsible for encoding the genome. DNA methylation can both directly inhibit the expression of genes and also increase the probability that affected genes undergo a mutational event. Although DNA methylation plays an essential role in normal biologic processes, distinct and abnormal patterns of methylation are observed in cancers. In particular, there has been increased documentation that methylation of the promoter regions of several genes, including known tumor suppressor genes, results in the subsequent failure to express their functional proteins. Consequently, DNA methylation may represent an early and fundamental step in the pathway by which normal tissue undergoes neoplastic transformation. Further, an assessment of the methylation profiles within neoplastic tissues may provide key information in enhancing the diagnosis, predicting the clinical behavior, and designing specific treatment plans for individual patients. METHODS: Published literature from 1925 to 2000 contributing to an understanding of the purpose of DNA methylation and how pathology of this phenomenon could contribute to cancer are reviewed. Theories on these issues and the evidence that led to them are described. The present status of the subject in a clinical context is discussed. RESULTS: Gene expression can be significantly modulated by alterations in DNA methylation patterns. Methylation within the promoter regions of tumor suppressor genes causes their silencing, and methylation within the gene itself can induce mutational events. These mechanisms may play a fundamental role in precipitating the development of a large and diverse number of human cancers. CONCLUSIONS: DNA methylation is an important factor in the development of cancer. A greater understanding of the relationship between DNA methylation events at the molecular level and its interaction in the clinical context may provide the basis for future advances in the surgical and pharmacologic management of malignant diseases.

Breast Neoplasms↗

Reduced rates of gene loss, gene silencing, and gene mutation in Dnmt1-deficient embryonic stem cells.

Tumor suppressor gene inactivation is a crucial event in oncogenesis. Gene inactivation mechanisms include events resulting in loss of heterozygosity (LOH), gene mutation, and transcriptional silencing. The contribution of each of these different pathways varies among tumor suppressor genes and by cancer type. The factors that influence the relative utilization of gene inactivation pathways are poorly understood. In this study, we describe a detailed quantitative analysis of the three major gene inactivation mechanisms for a model gene at two different genomic integration sites in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. In addition, we targeted the major DNA methyltransferase gene, Dnmt1, to investigate the relative contribution of DNA methylation to these various competing gene inactivation pathways. Our data show that gene loss is the predominant mode of inactivation of a herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase neomycin phosphotransferase reporter gene (HSV-TKNeo) at the two integration sites tested and that this event is significantly reduced in Dnmt1-deficient cells. Gene silencing by promoter methylation requires Dnmt1, suggesting that the expression of Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b alone in ES cells is insufficient to achieve effective gene silencing. We used a novel assay to show that missense mutation rates are also substantially reduced in Dnmt1-deficient cells. This is the first direct demonstration that DNA methylation affects point mutation rates in mammalian cells. Surprisingly, the fraction of CpG transition mutations was not reduced in Dnmt1-deficient cells. Finally, we show that methyl group-deficient growth conditions do not cause an increase in missense mutation rates in Dnmt1-proficient cells, as predicted by methyltransferase-mediated mutagenesis models. We conclude that Dnmt1 deficiency and the accompanying genomic DNA hypomethylation result in a reduction of three major pathways of gene inactivation in our model system.

DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase 1↗

Mismatch repair deficiency and CpG island hypermethylation in sporadic colon adenocarcinomas.

Many studies have documented CpG island hypermethylation in human colon adenocarcinomas. Several of these reports have additionally found such CpG island hypermethylation to be more extensive in tumors with a mismatch-repair deficiency, as revealed by microsatellite instability (MSI+). Because the source of samples used in these prior studies may not have been representative of the general population, we have reinvestigated this issue using samples from a population-based study. A total of 15 MSI+ tumors were identified, and they were compared with 47 MSI- tumors that were similar in distribution by age, sex, and race. Microdissected tumor and normal adjacent mucosal DNA samples from each patient were subjected to a quantitative DNA methylation analysis at 13 separate CpG dinucleotides located in five CpG islands in four different genes [APC, ESR1 (ER), CDKN2A (p16; promoter and exon 2), and MLH1]. Four of five CpG islands showed a statistically significantly increased level of methylation in tumor tissue compared with adjacent normal mucosa. In contrast to previous studies, we did not find any statistically significant correlations between MSI status and methylation levels of any of the CpG islands other than MLH1. Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation between MLH1 methylation and CDKN2A methylation (P = 0.03), whereas no association was noted between MSI positivity and CDKN2A methylation (P = 0.95). The latter results suggest a possible defect in the protection against CpG island hypermethylation shared between CDKN2A and MLH1 and do not support the notion of a functional association between CDKN2A methylation and the phenotype of mismatch repair deficiency.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Hypermethylated APC DNA in plasma and prognosis of patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) locus on chromosome 5q21-22 shows frequent loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in esophageal carcinomas. However, the prevalence of truncating mutations in the APC gene in esophageal carcinomas is low. Because hypermethylation of promoter regions is known to affect several other tumor suppressor genes, we investigated whether the APC promoter region is hypermethylated in esophageal cancer patients and whether this abnormality could serve as a prognostic plasma biomarker. METHODS: We assayed DNA from tumor tissue and matched plasma from esophageal cancer patients for hypermethylation of the promoter region of the APC gene. We used the maximal chi-square statistic to identify a discriminatory cutoff value for hypermethylated APC DNA levels in plasma and used bootstrap-like simulations to determine the P: value to test for the strength of this association. This cutoff value was used to generate Kaplan-Meier survival curves. All P values were based on two-sided tests. RESULTS: Hypermethylation of the promoter region of the APC gene occurred in abnormal esophageal tissue in 48 (92%) of 52 patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma, in 16 (50%) of 32 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and in 17 (39.5%) of 43 patients with Barrett's metaplasia but not in matching normal esophageal tissues. Hypermethylated APC DNA was observed in the plasma of 13 (25%) of 52 adenocarcinoma patients and in two (6.3%) of 32 squamous carcinoma patients. High plasma levels of methylated APC DNA were statistically significantly associated with reduced patient survival (P =.016). CONCLUSION: The APC promoter region was hypermethylated in tumors of the majority of patients with primary esophageal adenocarcinomas. Levels of hypermethylated APC gene DNA in the plasma may be a useful biomarker of biologically aggressive disease in esophageal adenocarcinoma patients and should be evaluated as a potential biomarker in additional tumor types.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Fields of aberrant CpG island hypermethylation in Barrett's esophagus and associated adenocarcinoma.

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is thought to develop through a multistage process in which Barrett's metaplasia progresses through low- and high-grade dysplasia to invasive cancer. Transcriptional silencing of tumor suppressor genes by promoter CpG island hypermethylation has been observed in many types of human cancer. Analysis of CpG island hypermethylation in EAC has thus far been limited to the CDKN2A (p16) gene. In this study, we extend the methylation analysis of EAC to include three other genes, APC, CDH1 (E-cadherin), and ESR1 (ER, estrogen receptor alpha), in addition to CDKN2A. Molecular analysis can provide insight into the complex relationships between tissues with different histologies in Barrett's esophagus and associated adenocarcinoma. Therefore, we have mapped the spatial distribution of methylation patterns in six esophagectomy cases in detail. Hypermethylation of the four CpG islands was analyzed by the MethyLight technique in 107 biopsies derived from these six patients for a total of 428 methylation analyses. Our results show that normal esophageal squamous epithelium is unmethylated at all four CpG islands. CDH1 is unmethylated in most other tissue types as well. Hypermethylation of ESR1 is seen at high frequency in inflammatory reflux esophagitis and at all subsequent stages, whereas APC and CDKN2A hypermethylation is found in Barrett's metaplasia, dysplasia, and EAC. When it occurs, hypermethylation of APC, CDKN2A, and ESR1 is usually found in a large contiguous field, suggesting either a concerted methylation change associated with metaplasia or a clonal expansion of cells with abnormal hypermethylation.

Adenocarcinoma↗

MethyLight: a high-throughput assay to measure DNA methylation.

Cytosine-5 DNA methylation occurs in the context of CpG dinucleotides in vertebrates. Aberrant methylation of CpG islands in human tumors has been shown to cause transcriptional silencing of tumor-suppressor genes. Most methods used to analyze cytosine-5 methylation patterns require cumbersome manual techniques that employ gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme digestion, radiolabeled dNTPs or hybridization probes. The development of high-throughput technology for the analysis of DNA methylation would significantly expand our ability to derive molecular information from clinical specimens. This study describes a high-throughput quantitative methylation assay that utilizes fluorescence-based real-time PCR (TaqMan) technology that requires no further manipulations after the PCR step. MethyLight is a highly sensitive assay, capable of detecting methylated alleles in the presence of a 10,000-fold excess of unmethylated alleles. The assay is also highly quantitative and can very accurately determine the relative prevalence of a particular pattern of DNA methylation. We show that MethyLight can distinguish between mono-allelic and bi-allelic methylation of the MLH1 mismatch repair gene in human colorectal tumor specimens. The development of this technique should considerably enhance our ability to rapidly and accurately generate epigenetic profiles of tumor samples.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗

DNA methylator and mismatch repair phenotypes are not mutually exclusive in colorectal cancer cell lines.

A potential link between DNA repair and de novo methylation of exogenous sequences in colorectal cancer cell lines suggested that cells deficient in mismatch repair (MMR-) had an increased ability to silence the introduced virus promoter by DNA methylation due to the presence of a methylator phenotype (MET+) (Lengauer et al., 1997a). We explored this relationship in more detail and found that although there was a clear difference in the abilities of MMR+ cells to express the viral promoter compared to their MMR- counterparts, this difference was not consistently explained by levels of methylation in the viral promoter. Furthermore, we were unable to distinguish differences between the levels of methylation of six endogenous known CpG islands or 100 random DNA fragments containing CCGG sites within the cells. No consistent differences between the abilities of the cells to methylate the CpG island in exon 2 of the p16 gene were observed after transient demethylation by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine nor in the levels of expression of three human methyltransferase enzymes. Our results do not therefore support the existence of mutually exclusive DNA methylation (MET) and DNA repair (MMR) phenotypes. Oncogene (2000) 19, 943 - 952.

Azacitidine↗

CpG island hypermethylation in human colorectal tumors is not associated with DNA methyltransferase overexpression.

The molecular basis of aberrant hypermethylation of CpG islands observed in a subset of human colorectal tumors is unknown. One potential mechanism is the up-regulation of DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferases. Recently, two new mammalian DNA methyltransferase genes have been identified, which are referred to as DNMT3A and DNMT3B. The encoded proteins differ from the predominant mammalian DNA methyltransferase DNMT1 in that they have a substantially higher ratio of de novo to maintenance methyltransferase activity. We have used a highly quantitative 5' nuclease fluorogenic reverse transcription-PCR method (TaqMan) to analyze the expression of all three DNA methyltransferase genes in 25 individual colorectal adenocarcinoma specimens and matched normal mucosa samples. In addition, we examined the methylation patterns of four CpG islands [APC, ESR1 (estrogen receptor), CDKN2A (p16), and MLH1] to determine whether individual tumors show a positive correlation between the level of DNA methyltransferase expression and the frequency of CpG island hypermethylation. All three methyltransferases appear to be up-regulated in tumors when RNA levels are normalized using either ACTB (beta-actin) or POLR2A (RNA pol II large subunit), but not when RNA levels are normalized with proliferation-associated genes, such as H4F2 (histone H4) or PCNA. The frequency or extent of CpG island hypermethylation in individual tumors did not correlate with the expression of any of the three DNA methyltransferases. Our results suggest that deregulation of DNA methyltransferase gene expression does not play a role in establishing tumor-specific abnormal DNA methylation patterns in human colorectal cancer.

Adenocarcinoma↗