Open AccessAllele‐specific proximal promoter hypomethylation of the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene ( TERT ) associates with TERT expression in multiple cancers
Author(s) -
Rowland Teisha J.,
Bonham Andrew J.,
Cech Thomas R.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
molecular oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.332
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1878-0261
pISSN - 1574-7891
DOI - 10.1002/1878-0261.12786
Subject(s) - dna methylation , cpg site , biology , methylation , microbiology and biotechnology , promoter , epigenetics , epigenetics of physical exercise , exon , telomerase reverse transcriptase , telomerase , gene , demethylating agent , gene expression , cancer research , genetics
In cancer, active expression of the TERT gene paradoxically correlates with a hypermethylated CpG island. Here, we show that in 833 cancer cell lines representing 23 tissue types, the proximal promoter contains conserved hypomethylation. In lines with monoallelic TERT expression, decreased proximal promoter methylation associates with the active allele. Thus, the proximal TERT promoter has canonical DNA methylation.