DNA methylation of adenomas from Apc-Min mice with additional Tet1 and Tdg mutations

Aberrant DNA methylation is frequent in colorectal cancer (CRC), but the underlying mechanisms and pathological consequences are poorly understood. Ten-Eleven Translocation (TET) dioxygenases and Thymine DNA Glycosylase (TDG) mediate active DNA demethylation by generating and removing oxidized cytosine species. TET1 and TDG mutations, and altered levels of oxidized cytosines have been identified in human CRC. To investigate the TET-TDG demethylation axis in intestinal tumorigenesis, we generated ApcMin mice that are devoid of Tet1 and/or Tdg, and characterized the methylome and transcriptome of intestinal adenomas. There were increased numbers (>30) of adenomas in ApcMin mice expressing the dominant-negative TdgN151A allele, whereas Tet1-deficient and Tet1/Tdg-double heterozygous ApcMin adenomas were larger and displayed features of erosion and invasion. Methylome analysis revealed reduction in global DNA hypomethylation in colonic adenomas from Tet1- and Tdg-mutant ApcMin mice, and hypermethylation of CpG islands in Tet1-mutant ApcMin mice. In addition, RNA sequencing showed upregulation of inflammatory, immune and interferon response genes in Tet1- and Tdg-mutant colonic adenomas compared to control ApcMin adenomas. The corresponding 127-gene inflammatory signature separated human colonic adenocarcinomas in four groups, closely aligned with their microsatellite or chromosomal instability, and characterized by different levels of DNA methylation and DNMT1 expression that anti-correlated with TET1 expression. These findings demonstrate a novel mechanism of epigenetic regulation during intestinal tumorigenesis by which TET1-TDG-mediated DNA demethylation may decrease methylation levels and inflammatory/interferon/immune responses, and is linked to the type of genomic instability. Digital restriction enzyme analysis of methylation (DREAM) was performed to determine the methylation profile of adenomas (triplicates) from four-genotype groups: Tet1-/- Tdg+/+ ApcMin/+; Tet1+/- TdgN151A/+ ApcMin/+ ; Tet1+/+ TdgN151A/+ ApcMin/+; and Tet1+/+ Tdg+/+ ApcMin/+. Briefly, genomic DNA was sequentially digested by SmaI and XmaI, which both recognize the sequence CCCGGG. SmaI is methylation sensitive, where XmaI is methylation insensitive. Distinct signatures, 5’-GGG at unmethylated sites or 5’-CCGGG at methylated sites were created by enzyme digestion and ultimately high througput sequencing was used to map these sites to the genome. Methylation ratios for each individual CCCGGG site were calculated as a proportion of methylated counts to the sum of unmethylated and methylated counts, and subsequently adjusted for differences in restriction enzyme efficiency using values obtained from spiked in standards.