Background Aberrant promoter DNA methylation has been shown to play a role in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) pathophysiology. observed in the patients. Conclusions/Significance Our study provides a comprehensive epigenetic profiling of AML, identifies new clinical markers for cases with a normal karyotype, and reveals relevant biological information related to the role of fusion proteins on the methylation signature. Introduction Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults. Chemotherapy induces complete remission in 70 to 80 percent of patients, but half relapse and die. Therefore, accurate predictors of clinical outcome can contribute to the design of appropriate treatment for individual patients. Cytogenetic and molecular markers are currently the most powerful prognostic factors. The karyotype is used to classify patients as being at low, intermediate, or high risk. Nevertheless, there is substantial heterogeneity within each risk group. Thirty-five to 50 percent of patients have a normal karyotype, and molecular markers, Rabbit polyclonal to AREB6 such as mutations in and have been shown to recruit both histone deacetylases and DNA methyltransferases to induce transcriptional repression of target genes [11], and abundant epigenetic lesions have been identified along with recurrent chromosome translocations such as t(8;21), t(15;17) and Inv(16) [8], [9]. Although these data support the idea of a link between epigenetic and genetic changes, the contribution of the fusion proteins to the aberrant DNA methylation signature need to be better established. Here we report a detailed comprehensive methylation profile to systematically explore the epigenomic variation underlying AML. The findings were correlated with clinical outcomes, and the contribution of different chromosomal rearrangements to the methylation profile was determined. Materials and Methods Samples Two series of patients diagnosed with de novo AML were studied. An original series of 116 cases was analyzed. DNA was collected in all instances from the leftover biological material after a proper diagnosis was achieved at the cytogenetic laboratories of the Universidad de Navarra (Pamplona, Spain), the Spanish National Cancer Center (CNIO, Madrid, Spain), and the Christian-Albrechts University (Kiel, Germany) (Table 1). The Spanish patients were treated according to the PETHEMA LAM99 clinical protocol Brivanib alaninate IC50 [12]. The Brivanib alaninate IC50 control samples comprised 4 bone marrow specimens and 2 CD34+ selections from the mobilized peripheral blood stem cells of healthy donors. An independent validation series of 244 cases was collected from Hospital la Fe (Valencia, Spain) and Hospital Reina Sofa (Crdoba, Spain). Thirteen cases of primary acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were also included. All samples were analyzed anonymously. Table 1 Summary of clinical data and distribution according to the DNA methylation profile. We analyzed DNA from 25 primary human hematopoietic stem cells/progenitor cells (HSPC) taken from cord blood samples. Human umbilical Brivanib alaninate IC50 CB was obtained by the Translational Trials Support Laboratory at CCHMC under a protocol approved by the CCHMC Institutional Review Board. No identifying information related to the infant or mother was obtained with these collections. These HSPC were stably transduced with retroviruses expressing different fusion proteins or with an empty vector and cultured for 12 to 17 weeks. This model have been studied in depth elsewhere [13]. Methylation profiling All samples were processed at CNIO. Microarray-based DNA methylation profiles were obtained using the GoldenGate Methylation Cancer Panel I (Illumina, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA). The panel contains 1505 CpG sites selected from 807 genes, including oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, imprinted genes, genes involved in various signaling pathways, and genes responsible for DNA repair, cell cycle control, metastasis, differentiation, and apoptosis. The methylation assay was performed as described previously [14]. Briefly, for each CpG site, four probes were designedtwo allele-specific oligos (ASO) and two locus-specific oligos (LSO). Each ASO-LSO pair corresponded to either Brivanib alaninate IC50 the methylated or unmethylated state of the CpG site. Bisulfite conversion of DNA samples was performed using the EZ DNA methylation kit (Zymo Study, Orange, CA, USA). The remaining assay steps were identical to the people of the GoldenGate genotyping assay [15], using reagents and conditions recommended by the manufacturer (Illumina, Inc). The arrays were hybridized under a heat gradient system imaged using a BeadArray Reader (Illumina, Inc). Each methylation data.