Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Jan;30(1):69-76.
doi: 10.1016/j.leukres.2005.05.010. Epub 2005 Jul 25.

5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (decitabine) can relieve p21WAF1 repression in human acute myeloid leukemia by a mechanism involving release of histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) without requiring p21WAF1 promoter demethylation

Stuart A Scott  1 , Wei-Feng Dong, Ryo Ichinohasama, Calley Hirsch, David Sheridan, Stephen E Sanche, C Ronald Geyer, John F Decoteau
Affiliations

5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (decitabine) can relieve p21WAF1 repression in human acute myeloid leukemia by a mechanism involving release of histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) without requiring p21WAF1 promoter demethylation

Stuart A Scott et al. Leuk Res. 2006 Jan.

Abstract

Decitabine is a potent demethylating agent that exhibits clinical activity against myeloid malignancies. Numerous genes silenced by hypermethylation are reactivated by decitabine through a mechanism involving promoter demethylation with subsequent release of histone deacetylases (HDACs) and accumulation of acetylated histones. Recent studies indicating that decitabine also induces regional chromatin remodeling of some unmethylated genes suggest additional mechanisms of action. Decitabine reactivates unmethylated p21WAF1 in some AML cell lines but the possible occurrence of p21WAF1 methylation in AML in vivo has not been studied in detail and decitabine effects on p21WAF1 chromatin remodeling have not been reported. We found that p21WAF1 mRNA was undetectable in 6 of 24 AML patient samples and 4 of 5 AML cell lines but there was no evidence of p21WAF1 promoter methylation. However, decitabine induced p21WAF1 in AML cell lines KG-1 and KG-1a in association with release of HDAC1 and increased acetylated histone H3 at the unmethylated p21WAF1 promoter. Decitabine effects on p21WAF1 histone acetylation and induction were enhanced by the HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A and were independent of wild type p53. Our findings indicate that decitabine can relieve p21WAF1 repression in AML by a mechanism that involves release of HDAC1 without requiring promoter demethylation. Furthermore, our study provides evidence that combined decitabine and HDAC inhibitor treatment can enhance chromatin remodeling and reactivation of an unmethylated tumor suppressor gene. This latter finding is of relevance to the clinical use of these agents in AML as we found the p21WAF1 promoter to be unmethylated in vivo.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources