H3K27 trimethylation and H3K9 dimethylation as poor prognostic markers for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Shaofeng Lin; Menghan Zhou; Yiping Li; Yanping Chen; Weizhang Xu; Wenjia Xia; Siwei Wang; Rong Yin; Qin Zhang; Lin Xu; Hong Fan

H3K27 trimethylation and H3K9 dimethylation as poor prognostic markers for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2019 Jul 1;12(7):2657-2664. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Shaofeng Lin^{1

2}, Menghan Zhou^{3

4}, Yiping Li⁵, Yanping Chen⁶, Weizhang Xu¹, Wenjia Xia¹, Siwei Wang¹, Rong Yin¹, Qin Zhang¹, Lin Xu¹, Hong Fan³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Cancer Hospital and Jiangsu Cancer Hospital and Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Translational Cancer Research Nanjing 210009, China.
² Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fujian Cancer Hospital and Fujian Medical University Cancer Hospital and Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Tumor Biotherapy Fuzhou 350014, China.
³ Department of Medical Genetics and Developmental Biology, Medical School of Southeast University, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Diseases, Ministry of Education, Southeast University Nanjing 210009, China.
⁴ Institute of Life Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Southeast University Nanjing 210018, China.
⁵ Department of Pathology, Medical School, Southeast University Nanjing 210009, China.
⁶ Department of Pathology, Fujian Cancer Hospital and Fujian Medical University Cancer Hospital Fuzhou 350014, China.

PMID: 31934095
PMCID: PMC6949571

Abstract

Background: Esophageal cancer (EC) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and the fifth in females in China. Dysregulation methylation of histone is now considered a biomarker for cancer prognosis.

Methods: In this study, we focused on exploring the expression patterns of two repressor histone methylation marks, H3K9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) and H3K27 trimethylation (H3K27me3), to provide potential biomarkers for diagnosis and therapies in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Results: After analyzing the relationship between the expression pattern of H3K27me3 and the clinic-pathological features of ESCC tissues, we found that upregulated H3K27me3 correlated with advanced T stage and N stage. A multivariate Cox regression analysis showed H3K27me3 expression, T stage and N stage were all independent factors for the poor prognosis of ESCC. Therefore, H3K27me3 can be considered an independent factor for predicting the prognosis of ESCC.

Conclusions: Chromatin remodeling, especially the methylation of H3, plays a vital role in ESCC development and is a potential therapeutic target.

Keywords: ESCC; H3K27me3; H3K9me2; biomarker.