Aberrant DNA Methylation, Expression, and Occurrence of Transcript Variants of the ABC Transporter ABCA7 in Breast Cancer
- Author(s)
- Katja Zappe, Antonio Kopic, Alexandra Scheichel, Ann Katrin Schier, Lukas Emanuel Schmidt, Yasmin Borutzki, Heidi Miedl, Martin Schreiber, Theresa Mendrina, Christine Pirker, Georg Pfeiler, Stefan Hacker, Werner Haslik, Dietmar Pils, Andrea Bileck, Christopher Gerner, Samuel Meier-Menches, Petra Heffeter, Margit Cichna-Markl
- Abstract
The ABC transporter ABCA7 has been found to be aberrantly expressed in a variety of cancer types, including breast cancer. We searched for specific epigenetic and genetic alterations and alternative splicing variants of ABCA7 in breast cancer and investigated whether these alterations are associated with ABCA7 expression. By analyzing tumor tissues from breast cancer patients, we found CpGs at the exon 5–intron 5 boundary aberrantly methylated in a molecular subtype-specific manner. The detection of altered DNA methylation in tumor-adjacent tissues suggests epigenetic field cancerization. In breast cancer cell lines, DNA methylation levels of CpGs in promoter-exon 1, intron 1, and at the exon 5–intron 5 boundary were not correlated with ABCA7 mRNA levels. By qPCR involving intron-specific and intron-flanking primers, we identified intron-containing ABCA7 mRNA transcripts. The occurrence of intron-containing transcripts was neither molecular subtype-specific nor directly correlated with DNA methylation at the respective exon–intron boundaries. Treatment of breast cancer cell lines MCF-7, BT-474, SK-BR3, and MDA-MB-231 with doxorubicin or paclitaxel for 72 h resulted in altered ABCA7 intron levels. Shotgun proteomics revealed that an increase in intron-containing transcripts was associated with significant dysregulation of splicing factors linked to alternative splicing.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Joint Metabolome Facility, Mass Spectrometry Centre
- External organisation(s)
- University of Vienna, Medizinische Universität Wien
- Journal
- Cells
- Volume
- 12
- ISSN
- 2073-4409
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12111462
- Publication date
- 06-2023
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106002 Biochemistry, 301114 Cell biology, 301904 Cancer research
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/6caf3287-07e8-4e72-9337-6a2558115676