Regulation of UHRF1 acetylation by TIP60 is important for colon cancer cell proliferation.

Background: Ubiquitin-like with PHD and RING finger domains 1 (UHRF1) is upregulated in colon cancer cells and associated with silencing tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) to promote colon cancer cell proliferation.

Objective: To investigate epigenetic modification of UHRF1 by TIP60. Whether UHRF1 acetylation by TIP60 can induce cell proliferation in colon cancer cells.

Methods: Acetylation sites of UHRF1 by TIP60 was predicted by ASEB (Acetylation Set Enrichment Based) method and identified by immunoprecipitation assay using anti-pan-acetyl lysine antibody and in vitro acetylation assay. Based on this method, UHRF1 acetylation-deficient mimic 4KR (K644R, K646R, K648R, K650R) mutant was generated to investigate effects of UHRF1 acetylation by TIP60. shRNA system was used to generate stable knockdown cell line of UHRF1. With transient transfection of UHRF1 WT and 4KR, the effects of UHRF1 4KR mutant on Jun dimerization protein 2 (JDP2) gene expression, cell proliferation and cell cycle were investigated by RT-qPCR and FACS analysis in shUHRF1 colon cancer cell line.

Results: Downregulation of TIP60-mediated UHRF1 acetylation is correlated with suppressed cell cycle progression. Acetylation-deficient mimic of UHRF1 showed poor cell growth through increased expression of JDP2 gene.

Conclusions: Acetylation of UHRF1 4K residues by TIP60 is important for colon cancer cell growth. Furthermore, upregulated JDP2 expression by acetylation-deficient mutant of UHRF1 might be an important epigenetic target for colon cancer cell proliferation.