title: Differential methylation of TSP50 and mTSP50 genes in different types of human tissues and mouse spermatic cells.
abstract: Earlier studies identified human TSP50 as a testis-specific gene that encoded a threonine protease. Most importantly, TSP50 could be a cancer/testis antigen since there was a high frequency of reactivation in breast cancer biopsies. It was also found to be negatively regulated by the p53 gene. To further characterize this gene, we recently examined the DNA methylation patterns of the TSP50 gene promoter in normal human testis, as well as breast tissue and a testicular embryonic carcinoma cell line (HTECCL). Bisulfite genomic sequencing results demonstrated that the promoter exhibited mixed DNA methylation patterns in normal human testis, mainly non-methylation versus slight methylation, which could be attributed to the different stages spermatic cells go through during spermatogenesis. In contrast, it was methylated to a much greater extent in both breast tissue and HTECCL. To find out whether DNA methylation status was related to spermatogenesis stages, we analyzed DNA methylation patterns of the mTSP50 (the mouse ortholog of TSP50) promoter in spermatocytes and spermatozoa isolated from sexually mature mice. The results clearly demonstrated that each group of cells exhibited its preferential DNA methylation pattern that apparently was consistent with the gene expression status observed before. Taken together, our findings suggested that DNA methylation might regulate the TSP50 and mTSP50 gene expressions in different types of tissues and spermatic cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, R402 Life Science Building, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5215, USA.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yuezeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Boqiao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yongli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Kegui
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Haopeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D013090:Spermatocytes / Q000201:enzymology*; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C446379:testis-specific protease 50