Epigenetic alterations induced by aflatoxin B1: An in vitro and in vivo approach with emphasis on enhancer of zeste homologue-2/p21 axis

The potent environmental toxicant aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)), is a group I carcinogen reported to induce the expression of many cancer associated proteins. Epigenetic alterations such as DNA methylation and histone modifications play vital role in AFB(1)-mediated carcinogenesis. These epigenetic modifications may result in the recruitment of specific proteins and transcription factors to the promoter region and regulate gene expression. Here we show that AFB(1), at lower concentrations (100 and 1000 nM) induced proliferation in L-132 and HaCaT cells with activation of the Akt pathway, which ultimately steered abnormal proliferation and transmission of survival signals. We demonstrated a significant reduction in the expression of p21 with a remarkable increase in the expression of cyclin D1 that correlatedwith increasedmethylation of CpG dinucleotides in p21 proximal promoter, while cyclin D1 promoter remained unmethylated. The chromatin immunoprecipitation results revealed the enrichment of DNMT3a and H3K27me3 repressive marks on the p21 proximal promoter where EZH2 mediated H3K27me3 mark enhanced the binding of DNMT3a at the promoter and further contributed to the transcriptional inactivation. The overall study provided the novel information on the impact of AFB(1) on p21 inactivation via EZH2 and promotermethylation which is known to be a vital process in proliferation. Furthermore, AFB1 induced the expression of EZH2 analogue protein E(z), cyclin D1 analogue cyclin D and decreased the expression of p21 analogue Dacapo in Drosophila melanogaster. Interestingly, the aggressiveness in their expression upon reexposure in successive generations suggested first hand perspectives on multigenerational epigenetic memory. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study demonstrated that AFB(1) induced proliferation in cells and altered the expression of cancer-associated proteins through epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation and histone modifications. This can ultimately impact cell proliferation and survival signaling pathways.