Concurrent Activation of Acetylation and Tri-Methylation of H3K27 in a Subset of Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Aggressive Behavior

Analysis of acetylation and tri-methylation of the same residue of histone molecules might identify a subset of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with aggressive behavior. In the present study, we examined acetylation and tri-methylation of lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27ac and H3K27me3, respectively) because these two modifications are known to exhibit opposite effects (enhancing and silencing) on gene expression. Neoplastic and non-neoplastic tissues from 198 HCC cases were immunostained with specific monoclonal antibodies against H3K27ac and H3K27me3. The stained tissues were evaluated by an image analyzing program to generate histological scores (H-scores, range 0–300), which were determined by multiplying the percentage of positive-stained cells with the classified immunohistochemical marker intensity (0–3). HCC tissues showed significantly higher H3K27ac (156.7±86.8) and H3K27me3 H-scores (151.8±78.1) compared with the background liver (40.3±33.0 and 64.7±45.6, respectively) (both P <0.001). The cases with H-scores of high-H3K27ac/high-H3K27me3 (n = 54) showed significant correlation with poor differentiation of morphology ( P <0.01) and p53-positive staining ( P <0.05), and poor prognosis ( P <0.01). Confocal microscopy revealed segregated intranuclear localization of both modifications in the individual cancer cells: H3K27ac localization in central euchromatin regions and H3K27me3 in peripheral heterochromatin regions. Concurrent acetylation and methylation at H3K27 occurs in HCC cells in association with p53 abnormalities. These findings demonstrate that image analyzer-assisted H-scores of H3K27ac and H3K27me3 identified an aggressive subgroup of HCC, and could serve as a prognostic marker for HCC.