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SOX2 Inhibition Promotes Promoter Demethylation of CDX2 to Facilitate Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia

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Abstract

Background

Gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM) is regarded as a premalignant lesion, conferring risks for gastric cancer development. An intestinal transcription factor, CDX2, plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining IM. SOX2, an HMG-box transcription factor, is expressed in normal gastric mucosa and downregulated in IM. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the mutual interaction of SOX2 and CDX2 in gastric IM.

Aims

This study aims to evaluate the negative correlation between SOX2 and CDX2 in mRNA expression and promoter methylation and to illuminate the effect of SOX2 on the promoter methylation of CDX2.

Methods

Immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR and methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction assays were performed to evaluate the expression and promoter methylation of SOX2 and CDX2 in IM tissues from patients. SOX2 knockdown and CDX2 overexpression were performed in GES-1 cells to further clarify the relationship between SOX2 and CDX2.

Results

A negative correlation between SOX2 and CDX2 was found in 120 gastric IM specimens. Additionally, significant DNA demethylation of CDX2 promoter in clinical IM specimens was observed concomitantly with partial methylation of the SOX2 promoter. Furthermore, SOX2 knockdown in GES-1 cells triggered promoter demethylation of CDX2. Finally, the phenotype shift of gastric intestinal metaplasia in GES-1 cells, marked by MUC2 expression, was effectively induced by the combination of SOX2 RNAi and CDX2 overexpression.

Conclusions

Aberrant DNA methylation of SOX2 and CDX2 genes contributes to the development of IM. Notably, SOX2 may play a role in establishing and maintaining the methylation status of the CDX2 gene in gastric tissues and cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31470082) and the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (2014MS08119).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, 010050, China

      Haijing Niu & Bingzhong Su

    2. School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021, China

      Yuchen Jia

    3. Research Center of Molecular Biology, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, 010058, China

      Yuchen Jia

    4. College of Medicine, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

      Tao Li

    5. Department of Biology, College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, 688 Yingbin Road, Jinhua, 321004, Zhejiang, China

      Tao Li

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    1. Haijing Niu
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    Correspondence to Bingzhong Su.

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    Haijing Niu and Yuchen Jia have contributed equally to this work.

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    Niu, H., Jia, Y., Li, T. et al. SOX2 Inhibition Promotes Promoter Demethylation of CDX2 to Facilitate Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia. Dig Dis Sci 62, 124–132 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-016-4361-5

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-016-4361-5

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