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  • Oncogenomics
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Candidate DNA methylation drivers of acquired cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer identified by methylome and expression profiling

Oncogene volume 31, pages 4567–4576 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Multiple DNA methylation changes in the cancer methylome are associated with the acquisition of drug resistance; however it remains uncertain how many represent critical DNA methylation drivers of chemoresistance. Using isogenic, cisplatin-sensitive/resistant ovarian cancer cell lines and inducing resensitizaton with demethylating agents, we aimed to identify consistent methylation and expression changes associated with chemoresistance. Using genome-wide DNA methylation profiling across 27 578 CpG sites, we identified loci at 4092 genes becoming hypermethylated in chemoresistant A2780/cp70 compared with the parental-sensitive A2780 cell line. Hypermethylation at gene promoter regions is often associated with transcriptional silencing; however, expression of only 245 of these hypermethylated genes becomes downregulated in A2780/cp70 as measured by microarray expression profiling. Treatment of A2780/cp70 with the demethylating agent 2-deoxy-5′-azacytidine induces resensitization to cisplatin and re-expression of 41 of the downregulated genes. A total of 13/41 genes were consistently hypermethylated in further independent cisplatin-resistant A2780 cell derivatives. CpG sites at 9 of the 13 genes (ARHGDIB, ARMCX2, COL1A, FLNA, FLNC, MEST, MLH1, NTS and PSMB9) acquired methylation in ovarian tumours at relapse following chemotherapy or chemoresistant cell lines derived at the time of patient relapse. Furthermore, 5/13 genes (ARMCX2, COL1A1, MDK, MEST and MLH1) acquired methylation in drug-resistant ovarian cancer-sustaining (side population) cells. MLH1 has a direct role in conferring cisplatin sensitivity when reintroduced into cells in vitro. This combined genomics approach has identified further potential key drivers of chemoresistance whose expression is silenced by DNA methylation that should be further evaluated as clinical biomarkers of drug resistance.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lisa McMillan for her valuable contribution to the initial analysis of the Affymetrix expression data. We also thank Nahal Masrour for preparation of samples and Kerra Pearce for running the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChips at the UCL Genomics Center, London. This work was supported by a Cancer Research UK (CZ, WD and RB) grant (C536/A6689), Imperial Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and Ovarian Cancer Action (SR and CSMWB).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery and Cancer, Epigenetics Unit, Imperial College London, London, UK

    C Zeller, W Dai, C S M Wilhelm-Benartzi & R Brown

  2. Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Glasgow, UK

    N L Steele

  3. Department of Genomics of Common Disease, School of Public Health, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK

    A Siddiq & A J Walley

  4. Section of Medicine, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK

    S Rizzo & R Brown

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    A van der Zee

  6. Cancer Research UK Beatson Laboratories, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    J A Plumb

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Zeller, C., Dai, W., Steele, N. et al. Candidate DNA methylation drivers of acquired cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer identified by methylome and expression profiling. Oncogene 31, 4567–4576 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2011.611

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