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Introduction:
Individuals carrying pathogenic mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have a high lifetime risk of breast cancer. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are involved in DNA double-strand break repair, DNA alterations that can be caused by exposure to reactive oxygen species, a main source of which are mitochondria. Mitochondrial genome variations affect electron transport chain efficiency and reactive oxygen species production. Individuals with different mitochondrial haplogroups differ in their metabolism and sensitivity to oxidative stress. Variability in mitochondrial genetic background can alter reactive oxygen species production, leading to cancer risk. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that mitochondrial haplogroups modify breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers.
Methods:
We genotyped 22,214 (11,421 affected, 10,793 unaffected) mutation carriers belonging to the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 for 129 mitochondrial polymorphisms using the iCOGS array. Haplogroup inference and association detection were performed using a phylogenetic approach. ALTree was applied to explore the reference mitochondrial evolutionary tree and detect subclades enriched in affected or unaffected individuals.
Results:
We discovered that subclade T1a1 was depleted in affected BRCA2 mutation carriers compared with the rest of clade T (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.55; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.34 to 0.88; P = 0.01). Compared with the most frequent haplogroup in the general population (that is, H and T clades), the T1a1 haplogroup has a HR of 0.62 (95% CI, 0.40 to 0.95; P = 0.03). We also identified three potential susceptibility loci, including G13708A/rs28359178, which has demonstrated an inverse association with familial breast cancer risk.
Conclusions:
This study illustrates how original approaches such as the phylogeny-based method we used can empower classical molecular epidemiological studies aimed at identifying association or risk modification effects.
Prenatal stress-induced programming of genome-wide promoter DNA methylation in 5-HTT-deficient mice
(2014)
The serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT/SLC6A4)-linked polymorphic region has been suggested to have a modulatory role in mediating effects of early-life stress exposure on psychopathology rendering carriers of the low-expression short (s)-variant more vulnerable to environmental adversity in later life. The underlying molecular mechanisms of this gene-by-environment interaction are not well understood, but epigenetic regulation including differential DNA methylation has been postulated to have a critical role. Recently, we used a maternal restraint stress paradigm of prenatal stress (PS) in 5-HTT-deficient mice and showed that the effects on behavior and gene expression were particularly marked in the hippocampus of female 5-Htt+/- offspring. Here, we examined to which extent these effects are mediated by differential methylation of DNA. For this purpose, we performed a genome-wide hippocampal DNA methylation screening using methylated-DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) on Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Promoter 1.0 R arrays. Using hippocampal DNA from the same mice as assessed before enabled us to correlate gene-specific DNA methylation, mRNA expression and behavior. We found that 5-Htt genotype, PS and their interaction differentially affected the DNA methylation signature of numerous genes, a subset of which showed overlap with the expression profiles of the corresponding transcripts. For example, a differentially methylated region in the gene encoding myelin basic protein (Mbp) was associated with its expression in a 5-Htt-, PS- and 5-Htt × PS-dependent manner. Subsequent fine-mapping of this Mbp locus linked the methylation status of two specific CpG sites to Mbp expression and anxiety-related behavior. In conclusion, hippocampal DNA methylation patterns and expression profiles of female prenatally stressed 5-Htt+/- mice suggest that distinct molecular mechanisms, some of which are promoter methylation-dependent, contribute to the behavioral effects of the 5-Htt genotype, PS exposure and their interaction.