{"title":"Genes with altered expression by 5-Aza treatment in myeloid leukemia cells through methylation in intron 1","authors":"Machiko Fujioka , Hiroyuki Mishima , Hidehiro Itonaga , Yo Hamaguchi , Uladzislau Korzun , Koji Ando , Akira Kinoshita , Yasushi Miyazaki , Koh-ichiro Yoshiura","doi":"10.1016/j.leukres.2025.108112","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>5-Azacitidine (5-Aza) is a hypomethylating agent with demonstrated therapeutic efficacy for myeloid leukemia. The aim of this study was to identify the genes that mediate the cell killing effect of 5-Aza against leukemia cells through their expression changes and DNA demethylation. RNA sequencing revealed 54 genes with increased transcription levels in both SKM-1 and KG-1a myeloid leukemia cell lines treated with 5-Aza. Long read sequencing revealed 79 genes in which intron 1 exhibited significant DNA demethylation after 5-Aza treatment. Forty-three genes showed both increased gene expression and DNA demethylation in intron 1 in cells treated with 5-Aza. Enrichment signaling pathway analysis demonstrated that genes were associated with “amino acid metabolism,” “neutrophil degranulation,” and “DNA damage response”. We evaluated the prognostic impacts of the 43 genes in acute myeloid leukemia patients using TCGA database. The results revealed that two genes (<em>HDC</em> and <em>MICALL2</em>) with increased expression in leukemia cells after 5-Aza treatment were associated with better overall survival, while six genes (<em>BTG2</em>, <em>CD52</em>, <em>PECAM1</em>, <em>PIK3IP1</em>, <em>PTGS2</em>, and <em>TREML2</em>) correlated with worse overall survival. This study revealed that the epigenetic regulation by DNA demethylation in intron 1 has an important role of 5-Aza treatment in myeloid leukemia cells, and suggests novel targets for the development of combination therapy with 5-Aza.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18051,"journal":{"name":"Leukemia research","volume":"158 ","pages":"Article 108112"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Leukemia research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145212625006022","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HEMATOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
5-Azacitidine (5-Aza) is a hypomethylating agent with demonstrated therapeutic efficacy for myeloid leukemia. The aim of this study was to identify the genes that mediate the cell killing effect of 5-Aza against leukemia cells through their expression changes and DNA demethylation. RNA sequencing revealed 54 genes with increased transcription levels in both SKM-1 and KG-1a myeloid leukemia cell lines treated with 5-Aza. Long read sequencing revealed 79 genes in which intron 1 exhibited significant DNA demethylation after 5-Aza treatment. Forty-three genes showed both increased gene expression and DNA demethylation in intron 1 in cells treated with 5-Aza. Enrichment signaling pathway analysis demonstrated that genes were associated with “amino acid metabolism,” “neutrophil degranulation,” and “DNA damage response”. We evaluated the prognostic impacts of the 43 genes in acute myeloid leukemia patients using TCGA database. The results revealed that two genes (HDC and MICALL2) with increased expression in leukemia cells after 5-Aza treatment were associated with better overall survival, while six genes (BTG2, CD52, PECAM1, PIK3IP1, PTGS2, and TREML2) correlated with worse overall survival. This study revealed that the epigenetic regulation by DNA demethylation in intron 1 has an important role of 5-Aza treatment in myeloid leukemia cells, and suggests novel targets for the development of combination therapy with 5-Aza.
期刊介绍:
Leukemia Research an international journal which brings comprehensive and current information to all health care professionals involved in basic and applied clinical research in hematological malignancies. The editors encourage the submission of articles relevant to hematological malignancies. The Journal scope includes reporting studies of cellular and molecular biology, genetics, immunology, epidemiology, clinical evaluation, and therapy of these diseases.