Mismatch repair proteins recruit DNA methyltransferase 1 to sites of oxidative DNA damage.

At sites of chronic inflammation, epithelial cells are exposed to high levels of reactive oxygen species and undergo cancer-associated DNA methylation changes, suggesting that inflammation may initiate epigenetic alterations. Previously, we demonstrated that oxidative damage causes epigenetic silencing proteins to become part of a large complex that is localized to GC-rich regions of the genome, including promoter CpG islands that are epigenetically silenced in cancer. However, whether these proteins were recruited directly to damaged DNA or during the DNA repair process was unknown.