DNA methylation alterations and transcriptional gene silencing induced by IDH1 R132H mutation [Affymetrix]

The cytosolic NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase IDH1 is frequently mutated in human cancers. Recent studies have shown that IDH1 mutant primary glioblastomas (GBM) and acute myeloid leukemias (AML) display robust association with CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP). Such observations bring into question whether IDH1 mutations directly contribute to the development of CIMP or if the hypermethylation phenotype precedes acquisition of IDH1 mutations. To reveal the effects of IDH1 mutations on DNA methylation and gene expression, we introduced the most frequently observed IDH1 mutation, R132H, into a human cancer cell line through gene targeting. We profiled changes in methylation at over 27,000 CpG dinucleotides spanning 14,475 unique gene regions and characterized genome-wide gene expression alterations resulting from IDH1R132H knockin. We observed consistent changes in both DNA methylation and gene expression when comparing two independent IDH1R132H knockin clones to their wild-type parent, and report hypermethylation of over 2,000 loci, the majority of which contained preexisting methylation in IDH1WT parental cells. These loci exhibit the same trend in primary TCGA glioblastoma tumors with mutant IDH1 as compared to those with wild-type IDH1 and have significant overlap with genes hypermethylated in glioma-CIMP+ tumors. Furthermore, we identify specific DNA methylation and gene expression alterations which correlate with IDH1 mutations in our cell-line model as well as primary glioblastomas, including hypermethylation and transcriptional silencing of RBP1. The presented data provide insight on epigenetic alterations induced by IDH1 mutations and support a contributory role for IDH1 mutants in regulation of DNA methylation and gene expression in human cancer cells.

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Duncan CG, Barwick BG, Jin G, Rago C, Kapoor-Vazirani P, Powell DR, Chi JT, Bigner DD, Vertino PM, Yan H