Abstract 2270: Integrating 5hmC and gene expression data infers regulatory mechanisms linked to alternative mRNA splicing in breast cancer

Abstract

Abstract Epigenetic mechanisms, such as 5-methylcytosine (5mC), are known to play a major role in breast cancer. However, the role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) DNA modification remains understudied. We hypothesize that 5hmC mediates redox regulation of gene expression in the triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype. To address this, our objective was to highlight genes that may be the target of this process by identifying redox-regulated, antioxidant-sensitive, gene-localized 5hmC changes associated with mRNA changes in TNBC cells. We proceeded to develop an approach to integrate data sets generated by a methodology called Pvu-sequencing, which measures 5hmC in the genome, and RNA-sequencing. The result of our approach to merge genome-wide, high-throughput TNBC cell line data to identify significant, concordant 5hmC and mRNA changes in response to antioxidant treatment, that perturbs redox signaling, produced a gene set with relevance to alternative mRNA splicing and cancer stem cell function. Key genes identified included TAR DNA binding protein (TARDBP), vimentin (VIM), and splicing factor proline and glutamine rich (SFPQ). Moreover, we have established a method that will be useful for continued research of 5hmC in TNBC cells and tissue samples. Citation Format: Cristina Mitrea, Priyanga Wijesinghe, Greg Dyson, Emily Girsch, Bin Bao, Adele Kruger, Aliccia Bollig-Fischer. Integrating 5hmC and gene expression data infers regulatory mechanisms linked to alternative mRNA splicing in breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2270.