DNA methylation is a chemical modification of DNA involved in the regulation of gene expression by controlling the access to the DNA sequence. It is the most stable epigenetic mark and is widely studied for its role in major biological processes. Aberrant DNA methylation is observed in various pathologies, such as cancer. Therefore, there is a great interest in analyzing subtle changes in DNA methylation induced by biological processes or upon drug treatments. Here, we developed an improved methodology based on flow cytometry to measure variations of DNA methylation level in melanoma and leukemia cells. The accuracy of DNA methylation quantification was validated with LC-ESI mass spectrometry analysis. The new protocol was used to detect small variations of cytosine methylation occurring in individual cells during their cell cycle and those induced by the demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5AzadC). Kinetic experiments confirmed that inheritance of DNA methylation occurs efficiently in S phase and revealed a short delay between DNA replication and completion of cytosine methylation. In addition, this study suggests that the uncoupling of 5AzadC effects on DNA demethylation and cell proliferation might be related to the duration of the DNA replication phase.

The Bridging Integrator 1 (BIN1) gene is a major susceptibility gene for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Deciphering its pathophysiological role is challenging due to its numerous isoforms. Here we observed in Drosophila that human BIN1 isoform1 (BIN1iso1) overexpression, contrary to human BIN1 isoform8 (BIN1iso8) and human BIN1 isoform9 (BIN1iso9), induced an accumulation of endosomal vesicles and neurodegeneration. Systematic search for endosome regulators able to prevent BIN1iso1-induced neurodegeneration indicated that a defect at the early endosome level is responsible for the neurodegeneration. In human induced neurons (hiNs) and cerebral organoids, BIN1 knock-out resulted in the narrowing of early endosomes. This phenotype was rescued by BIN1iso1 but not BIN1iso9 expression. Finally, BIN1iso1 overexpression also led to an increase in the size of early endosomes and neurodegeneration in hiNs. Altogether, our data demonstrate that the AD susceptibility gene BIN1, and especially BIN1iso1, contributes to early-endosome size deregulation, which is an early pathophysiological hallmark of AD pathology.

BackgroundEfficient treatments against metastatic melanoma dissemination are still lacking. Here, we report that low-cytotoxic concentrations of 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine, a DNA demethylating agent, prevent in vitro 3D invasiveness of metastatic melanoma cells and reduce lung metastasis formation in vivo.ResultsWe unravelled that this beneficial effect is in part due to MIR-199A2 re-expression by promoter demethylation. Alone, this miR showed an anti-invasive and anti-metastatic effect. Throughout integration of micro-RNA target prediction databases with transcriptomic analysis after 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine treatments, we found that miR-199a-3p downregulates set of genes significantly involved in invasion/migration processes. In addition, analysis of data from melanoma patients showed a stage- and tissue type-dependent modulation of MIR-199A2 expression by DNA methylation.ConclusionsThus, our data suggest that epigenetic- and/or miR-based therapeutic strategies can be relevant to limit metastatic dissemination of melanoma.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13148-018-0600-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Worldwide, the number of people with diabetes has quadrupled since 1980 reaching 422 million in 2014 (World Health Organization). This distressing rise in diabetes also affects pregnant women and thus, in regard to early programming of adult diseases, creates a vicious cycle of metabolic dysfunction passed from one generation to another. Metabolic diseases are complex and caused by the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. High-glucose exposure during in utero development, as observed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), is an established risk factor for metabolic diseases. Despite intense efforts to better understand this phenomenon of early memory little is known about the molecular mechanisms associating early exposure to long-term diseases risk. However, evidence promotes glucose associated oxidative stress as one of the molecular mechanisms able to influence susceptibility to metabolic diseases. Thus, we decided here to further explore the relationship between early glucose exposure and cellular stress in the context of early development, and focus on the concept of glycemic memory, its consequences, and sexual dimorphic and epigenetic aspects.

Aberrant DNA methylation is a well‑known feature of tumours and has been associated with metastatic melanoma. However, since melanoma cells are highly heterogeneous, it has been challenging to use affected genes to predict tumour aggressiveness, metastatic evolution, and patients' outcomes. We hypothesized that common aggressive hypermethylation signatures should emerge early in tumorigenesis and should be shared in aggressive cells, independent of the physiological context under which this trait arises. We compared paired melanoma cell lines with the following properties: (i) each pair comprises one aggressive counterpart and its parental cell line, and (ii) the aggressive cell lines were each obtained from different host and their environment (human, rat, and mouse), though starting from the same parent cell line. Next, we developed a multi-step genomic pipeline that combines the DNA methylome profile with a chromosome cluster-oriented analysis. A total of 229 differentially hypermethylated genes were commonly found in the aggressive cell lines. Genome localization analysis revealed hypermethylation peaks and clusters, identifying eight hypermethylated gene promoters for validation in tissues from melanoma patients. Five CpG identified in primary melanoma tissues were transformed into a DNA methylation score that can predict survival (Log-rank test, p=0.0008). This strategy is potentially universally applicable to other diseases involving DNA methylation alterations.

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The Bridging Integrator 1 (BIN1) gene is a major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) but little is known about its physiological functions. In addition, deciphering its potential pathophysiological role is difficult due to its numerous isoforms expressed in different cerebral cell types. Here we took advantage of a drosophila model to assess in vivo the impact of different BIN1 isoforms on neuronal toxicity: the neuronal isoform 1 (BIN1iso1), the muscular isoform 8 (BIN1iso8) and the ubiquituous isoform 9 (BIN1iso9). We showed that contrary to BIN1iso8 and BIN1iso9, BIN1iso1 overexpression induced neurodegeneration and an accumulation of vesicles mainly labeled by endosome markers. Systematic search for endosome trafficking regulators that are able to rescue BIN1iso1-induced neurodegeneration indicated a defect in the early endosome trafficking machinery. In human induced neurons and cerebral organoids, BIN1 knock-out resulted in narrowing of the early endosomes. This phenotype was rescued by BIN1iso1 expression but not that of BIN1iso9. Finally, in accordance with our previous observation in flies, we also observed that BIN1iso1 overexpression led to an increase in size of the early endosomes in human induced neurons. Altogether, our data demonstrate that the AD genetic risk factor BIN1, and especially BIN1iso1, contributes to early-endosome size deregulation which is a very early pathophysiological feature observed in AD pathogenesis.

Fetal development is a critical period to shape stem cell identity and functions. Detrimental environments during this period are associated with epigenetics alteration of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) with unknown functional impacts. We implemented a single-cell resolution integrative analysis combining epigenomics, transcriptomics, and functional data to elucidate the epigenetic influence associated with excessive fetal growth on HSPCs. We showed that hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) from large for gestational age neonates present a coordinated DNA hypermethylation and decrease expression for genes of the EGR1 transcriptional network including SOCS3, KLF2, and JUNB known to sustain stem cell quiescence and pluripotency. Furthermore, these changes were associated with a decreased ability for HSCs to stay undifferentiated and a decreased ability to expand in response to stimulation. Taken together, these results show that fetal overgrowth affects hematopoietic stem cells quiescence maintenance program through an epigenetic programming of the EGR1 related transcriptional network.