Advertisement
DNA hypermethylation within TERT promoter upregulates TERT expression in cancer
Donghyun D. Lee, Ricardo Leão, Martin Komosa, Marco Gallo, Cindy H. Zhang, Tatiana Lipman, Marc Remke, Abolfazl Heidari, Nuno Miguel Nunes, Joana D. Apolónio, Aryeh J. Price, Ramon Andrade De Mello, João S. Dias, David Huntsman, Thomas Hermanns, Peter J. Wild, Robert Vanner, Gelareh Zadeh, Jason Karamchandani, Sunit Das, Michael D. Taylor, Cynthia E. Hawkins, Jonathan D. Wasserman, Arnaldo Figueiredo, Robert J. Hamilton, Mark D. Minden, Khalida Wani, Bill Diplas, Hai Yan, Kenneth Aldape, Mohammad R. Akbari, Arnavaz Danesh, Trevor J. Pugh, Peter B. Dirks, Pedro Castelo-Branco, and Uri Tabori
Find articles by Lee, D. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Leão, R. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Komosa, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Gallo, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Zhang, C. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Lipman, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Remke, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Heidari, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Nunes, N. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Apolónio, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Price, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by De Mello, R. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Dias, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Huntsman, D. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Hermanns, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Wild, P. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Vanner, R. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Zadeh, G. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Karamchandani, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Das, S. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Taylor, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Hawkins, C. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Wasserman, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Figueiredo, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Hamilton, R. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Minden, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Wani, K. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Diplas, B. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Yan, H. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Aldape, K. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Akbari, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Danesh, A. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Pugh, T. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Dirks, P. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Castelo-Branco, P. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Find articles by Tabori, U. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Published April 1, 2019 - More info
J Clin Invest. 2019;129(4):1801–1801. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI128527.
© 2019 American Society for Clinical Investigation
Related article:
Abstract
Replicative immortality is a hallmark of cancer cells governed by telomere maintenance. Approximately 90% of human cancers maintain their telomeres by activating telomerase, driven by the transcriptional upregulation of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). Although TERT promoter mutations (TPMs) are a major cancer-associated genetic mechanism of TERT upregulation, many cancers exhibit TERT upregulation without TPMs. In this study, we describe the TERT hypermethylated oncological region (THOR), a 433-bp genomic region encompassing 52 CpG sites located immediately upstream of the TERT core promoter, as a cancer-associated epigenetic mechanism of TERT upregulation. Unmethylated THOR repressed TERT promoter activity regardless of TPM status, and hypermethylation of THOR counteracted this repressive function. THOR methylation analysis in 1,352 human tumors revealed frequent (>45%) cancer-associated DNA hypermethylation in 9 of 11 (82%) tumor types screened. Additionally, THOR hypermethylation, either independently or along with TPMs, accounted for how approximately 90% of human cancers can aberrantly activate telomerase. Thus, we propose that THOR hypermethylation is a prevalent telomerase-activating mechanism in cancer that can act independently of or in conjunction with TPMs, further supporting the utility of THOR hypermethylation as a prognostic biomarker.
Authors
Donghyun D. Lee, Ricardo Leão, Martin Komosa, Marco Gallo, Cindy H. Zhang, Tatiana Lipman, Marc Remke, Abolfazl Heidari, Nuno Miguel Nunes, Joana D. Apolónio, Aryeh J. Price, Ramon Andrade De Mello, João S. Dias, David Huntsman, Thomas Hermanns, Peter J. Wild, Robert Vanner, Gelareh Zadeh, Jason Karamchandani, Sunit Das, Michael D. Taylor, Cynthia E. Hawkins, Jonathan D. Wasserman, Arnaldo Figueiredo, Robert J. Hamilton, Mark D. Minden, Khalida Wani, Bill Diplas, Hai Yan, Kenneth Aldape, Mohammad R. Akbari, Arnavaz Danesh, Trevor J. Pugh, Peter B. Dirks, Pedro Castelo-Branco, Uri Tabori
Original citation: J Clin Invest. 2019;129(1):223–229. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI121303
Citation for this corrigendum: J Clin Invest. 2019;129(4):1801. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI128527
Of the 1352 samples in the cohort, which were provided by multiple collaborators, four samples of breast tissue for which DNA was analyzed were a part of another study. Since these samples did not go through the same rigorous screening process, including pathology review and extraction of DNA from paraffin tissues, that was applied to all other samples, the authors are less confident in their exact identity and have decided to retract them from the study. This does not change the message of the paper, but results in changes in and in one pie chart in Figure 2E, that for breast cancer. The corrected figure parts are below. In addition, the supplemental material containing sample information has been updated online.
The authors regret the error.
Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)