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Differential expression of Oct4 in HPV-positive and HPV-negative cervical cancer cells is not regulated by DNA methyltransferase 3A

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

The colony-forming ability of cervical cancer is affected by many factors. Oct4, an important transcription factor, is highly expressed in several tumors and promotes the colony-forming ability of cancer cells. Thus, it is considered a potential target for the treatment of cancer. However, we know little about the expression level of Oct4 and its epigenetic regulatory mechanism in cervical cancer cells. In this study, we are the first to observe that human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa, Caski) have a stronger colony-forming ability than HPV-negative cervical cancer cell lines (C-33A). Moreover, the expression level of Oct4 in both HeLa and Caski cells was also higher than that in C-33A cells. We then confirmed that there was a negative correlation between the expression of Oct4 and DNMT3A in these three types of cervical cancer cells, whereas DNA methyltransferase 1 and 3B had no differences among the cell lines. However, after DNA methylation in both key regulatory regions of the Oct4 gene and the genomic levels were analyzed, we found that DNA methyltransferase 3A could neither regulate the expression of Oct4 nor affect the whole level of genomic DNA methylation. These results suggest three points: (1) Oct4 might be treated as a new target for the treatment of cervical cancer, (2) we could not inhibit the expression of Oct4 by DNA demethylation, and (3) HPV virus might initiate cervical carcinogenesis by upregulation of Oct4 expression.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Qian Zhang, Yan Zhang, Hongming Miao, and Chang Su for their technical assistance. We also want to thank Min Chen and Rong-Xia Liao (Medical English Department, Third Military Medical University, China) for a critical reading of the manuscript and kindly giving precious advice.

Disclosure statement

All authors have read and approved the manuscript for journal submission. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. This paper has not been submitted elsewhere for consideration of publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Third Military Medical University, 30 Gaotanyan, Shapingba, Chongqing, 400038, China

    Dongbo Liu, Peng Zhou, Li Zhang, Gengze Wu & Fengtian He

  2. Depeartment 1 of State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns, and Combined Injury, Daping Hospital and Institute of Surgery Research, 10 Changjiang Road, Daping, Chongqing, 400042, China

    Dongbo Liu

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Daping Hospital and Institute of Surgery Research, Third Military Medical University, 10 Changjiang Road, Daping, Chongqing, 400042, China

    Yingru Zheng

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  1. Dongbo Liu
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  2. Peng Zhou
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Correspondence to Yingru Zheng or Fengtian He.

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Liu, D., Zhou, P., Zhang, L. et al. Differential expression of Oct4 in HPV-positive and HPV-negative cervical cancer cells is not regulated by DNA methyltransferase 3A. Tumor Biol. 32, 941–950 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-011-0196-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-011-0196-z

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