title: Serum starvation induces DRAM expression in liver cancer cells via histone modifications within its promoter locus.
abstract: DRAM is a lysosomal membrane protein and is critical for p53-mediated autophagy and apoptosis. DRAM has a potential tumor-suppressive function and is downregulated in many human cancers. However, the regulation of DRAM expression is poorly described so far. Here, we demonstrated that serum deprivation strongly induces DRAM expression in liver cancer cells and a core DNA sequence in the DRAM promoter is essential for its responsiveness to serum deprivation. We further observed that euchromatin markers for active transcriptions represented by diacetyl-H3, tetra-acetyl-H4 and the trimethyl-H3K4 at the core promoter region of DRAM gene are apparently increased in a time-dependent manner upon serum deprivation, and concomitantly the dimethyl-H3K9, a herterochromatin marker associated with silenced genes, was time-dependently decreased. Moreover, the chromatin remodeling factor Brg-1 is enriched at the core promoter region of the DRAM gene and is required for serum deprivation induced DRAM expression. These observations lay the ground for further investigation of the DRAM gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Peihua
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Changqiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jiayi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiangfan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yiqun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Qishi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Zhaoyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D001343:Autophagy / Q000235:genetics; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: C512709:DRAM1 protein, human; D006657:Histones; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D016328:NF-kappa B