Knockdown of DNA methyltransferase-1 inhibits proliferation and derepresses tumor suppressor genes in myeloma cells

DNA methyltransferases (including DNMT1, DNMT3A and DNMT3B), catalyze the transfer of methyl groups from S-adenosyl-l-methionine to cytosine position 5; this methylation in promoter regions silences gene expression. In addition, DNMT1 plays a critical role in the maintenance of genomic DNA methylation during DNA replication. In the present study, silencing of DNMT1 with siRNA was performed in RPMI-8226 human multiple myeloma (MM) cells, and the impact on gene methylation status and proliferation of the cells was analyzed. Upon DNMT1 downregulation, proliferation decreased significantly compared with that in the control, non-transfected cells. The expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 and nuclear factor κB proteins was also significantly reduced. Furthermore, nested methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction revealed that methylation of the tumor suppressor genes, suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 and p16, was significantly reduced upon DNMT1 knockdown. Our results suggest that DNMT1 silencing may be a promising strategy to consider during development of novel MM treatment strategies.