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Kurscheid S, Bady P, Sciuscio D, Samarzija I, Shay T, Vassallo I, Criekinge WV, Daniel RT, van den Bent MJ, Marosi C, Weller M, Mason WP, Domany E, Stupp R, Delorenzi M, Hegi ME. Chromosome 7 gain and DNA hypermethylation at the HOXA10 locus are associated with expression of a stem cell related HOX-signature in glioblastoma. Genome Biol 2015; 16:16. [PMID: 25622821 PMCID: PMC4342872 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-015-0583-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2014] [Accepted: 01/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background HOX genes are a family of developmental genes that are expressed neither in the developing forebrain nor in the normal brain. Aberrant expression of a HOX-gene dominated stem-cell signature in glioblastoma has been linked with increased resistance to chemo-radiotherapy and sustained proliferation of glioma initiating cells. Here we describe the epigenetic and genetic alterations and their interactions associated with the expression of this signature in glioblastoma. Results We observe prominent hypermethylation of the HOXA locus 7p15.2 in glioblastoma in contrast to non-tumoral brain. Hypermethylation is associated with a gain of chromosome 7, a hallmark of glioblastoma, and may compensate for tumor-driven enhanced gene dosage as a rescue mechanism by preventing undue gene expression. We identify the CpG island of the HOXA10 alternative promoter that appears to escape hypermethylation in the HOX-high glioblastoma. An additive effect of gene copy gain at 7p15.2 and DNA methylation at key regulatory CpGs in HOXA10 is significantly associated with HOX-signature expression. Additionally, we show concordance between methylation status and presence of active or inactive chromatin marks in glioblastoma-derived spheres that are HOX-high or HOX-low, respectively. Conclusions Based on these findings, we propose co-evolution and interaction between gene copy gain, associated with a gain of chromosome 7, and additional epigenetic alterations as key mechanisms triggering a coordinated, but inappropriate, HOX transcriptional program in glioblastoma. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-015-0583-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Kurscheid
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Neuroscience Research Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Bioinformatics Core Facility, Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, Lausanne, 1005, Switzerland. .,Present address: The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
| | - Pierre Bady
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Neuroscience Research Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Bioinformatics Core Facility, Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, Lausanne, 1005, Switzerland. .,Department of Education and Research, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland.
| | - Davide Sciuscio
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Neuroscience Research Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland.
| | - Ivana Samarzija
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Neuroscience Research Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland.
| | - Tal Shay
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
| | - Irene Vassallo
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Neuroscience Research Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland.
| | - Wim V Criekinge
- Department of Mathematical Modelling, Statistics and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Roy T Daniel
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland.
| | - Martin J van den Bent
- Department of Neurology/Neurooncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Christine Marosi
- Department of Medicine, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Michael Weller
- Department of Neurology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. .,Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Warren P Mason
- Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Eytan Domany
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
| | - Roger Stupp
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Department of Oncology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, 8091, Switzerland.
| | - Mauro Delorenzi
- Bioinformatics Core Facility, Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, Lausanne, 1005, Switzerland. .,Ludwig Center for Cancer Research, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Department of Oncology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland.
| | - Monika E Hegi
- Neurosurgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland. .,Neuroscience Research Center, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland.
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