Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 8, 2025

An Integrated Platform for Genome-wide Mapping of Chromatin States Using High-throughput ChIP-sequencing in Tumor Tissues
Published on: April 5, 2018
Epigenetic characterization of housekeeping core promoters and their importance in tumor suppression
Martin Loza1, Alexis Vandenbon2, Kenta Nakai1
1The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
In this research, we elucidate the presence of around 11,000 housekeeping cis-regulatory elements (HK-CREs) and describe their main characteristics. Besides the trivial promoters of housekeeping genes, most HK-CREs reside in promoter regions and are involved in a broader role beyond housekeeping gene regulation. HK-CREs are conserved regions rich in unmethylated CpG sites. Their distribution highly correlates with that of protein-coding genes, and they interact with many genes over long distances. We observed reduced activity of a subset of HK-CREs in diverse cancer subtypes due to aberrant methylation, particularly those located in chromosome 19 and associated with zinc finger genes. Further analysis of samples from 17 cancer subtypes showed a significantly increased survival probability of patients with higher expression of these genes, suggesting them as housekeeping tumor suppressor genes. Overall, our work unravels the presence of housekeeping CREs indispensable for the maintenance and stability of cells.
Related Concept Videos
Epigenetic Regulation
X-chromosome...
Loss of Tumor Suppressor Gene Functions
When the tumor suppressor genes develop mutations or are lost, cells start growing out of control, leading to cancer. However, a single functional copy of the tumor suppressor gene is enough for the cells to maintain their normal functions and cell...
Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Maintenance
Cancer stem cells are thought to originate from tissue-specific normal stem cells or progenitor cells. The normal stem cells usually reside in...
Abnormal Proliferation
Co-activators and Co-repressors
Tumor Progression
Colon cancer is one of the best-documented examples of tumor progression. Early mutation in the APC gene in colon cells causes a small growth on the colon wall called a polyp. With time, this polyp grows into a benign, pre-cancerous tumor. Further...

