Aberrant enhancer hypomethylation contributes to hepatic carcinogenesis through global transcriptional reprogramming

Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 18;10(1):335. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-08245-z.

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) exhibit distinct promoter hypermethylation patterns, but the epigenetic regulation and function of transcriptional enhancers remain unclear. Here, our affinity- and bisulfite-based whole-genome sequencing analyses reveal global enhancer hypomethylation in human HCCs. Integrative epigenomic characterization further pinpoints a recurrent hypomethylated enhancer of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-beta (C/EBPβ) which correlates with C/EBPβ over-expression and poorer prognosis of patients. Demethylation of C/EBPβ enhancer reactivates a self-reinforcing enhancer-target loop via direct transcriptional up-regulation of enhancer RNA. Conversely, deletion of this enhancer via CRISPR/Cas9 reduces C/EBPβ expression and its genome-wide co-occupancy with BRD4 at H3K27ac-marked enhancers and super-enhancers, leading to drastic suppression of driver oncogenes and HCC tumorigenicity. Hepatitis B X protein transgenic mouse model of HCC recapitulates this paradigm, as C/ebpβ enhancer hypomethylation associates with oncogenic activation in early tumorigenesis. These results support a causal link between aberrant enhancer hypomethylation and C/EBPβ over-expression, thereby contributing to hepatocarcinogenesis through global transcriptional reprogramming.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-beta / metabolism
  • Carcinogenesis / genetics*
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
  • DNA Methylation*
  • Demethylation
  • Epigenesis, Genetic
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Liver
  • Liver Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism
  • Prognosis
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / genetics*
  • Trans-Activators
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Transcriptional Activation
  • Up-Regulation
  • Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins

Substances

  • BRD4 protein, human
  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Protein-beta
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Trans-Activators
  • Transcription Factors
  • Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins
  • hepatitis B virus X protein