Study of hydroxymethlated DNA and TET gene family in cancer

本研究的目的是阐明羟甲基CpG （hmCpG）在乳腺癌细胞中的意义。hmCpG被认为是甲基化CpG去甲基化机制的第一步，在癌症的表观遗传基因调控中发挥重要作用。在本研究中，为了筛选差异羟甲基化区域（DHMR），我们使用ATCC的乳腺癌细胞系面板进行了甲基化微阵列分析，以鉴定差异低甲基化区域。根据详细分析，我们在Luminal型和三阴性乳腺癌中发现了亚型特异性低甲基化区域，这些区域可能是DHMR的候选区域。另一方面，我们利用慢病毒载体系统建立了TET1/2/3基因家族的基因诱导体系。这将有助于进一步分析乳腺癌细胞中TET1/2/3基因的功能。

The aim of this study is to clarify the significance of hydroxymethyl CpG (hmCpG) in breast cancer cells. The hmCpG is thought to be the first step in demethylation mechanism of methylated CpG, and to play an important roles in epigenetic gene regulation in cancer. In this study, to screen differentially hydroxymethylated regions (DHMR), we conducted to methylation microarray analysis to identify differentially hypomethylated regions, using ATCC's breast cancer cell line panels. According to the detailed analysis, we identified subtype specific hypomethylated regions in Luminal type and triple negative breast cancers, which would be candidate regions of DHMR.On the other hand, we established a gene induction system of TET1/2/3 gene families, using Lenti-virus vector system. It will help the further functional analysis of TET1/2/3 genes in breast cancer cells.