Epigenetic regulation of nuclear PI-PLCbeta1 signaling pathway in low-risk MDS patients during azacitidine treatment

Phosphoinositide-phospholipase C (PI-PLC) beta1 can be considered a specific target for demethylating therapy in high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients, as azacitidine treatment has been associated with a PI-PLCbeta1-specific promoter demethylation, and induction of PI-PLCbeta1 gene and protein expression. However, little is known about the molecular effect of azacitidine in low-risk MDS or the functional mechanisms linked with azacitidine effect on PI-PLCbeta1 promoter. In the present study, we further investigated the role of epigenetic regulation of PI-PLCbeta1, mainly focusing on the structure of the PI-PLCbeta1 promoter. We first examined the effect of azacitidine on PI-PLCbeta1 promoter methylation and gene expression in low-risk MDS. Moreover, we studied the expression of key molecules associated with the nuclear inositide signaling pathways, such as cyclin D3. By applying a chromatin immunoprecipitation method, we also studied the correlation between the demethylating effect of azacitidine and the degree of recruitment to PI-PLCbeta1 promoter of some transcription factors implicated in hematopoietic stem cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as of the methyl-CpG-binding domain proteins, which specifically interact with methylated DNA. Taken together, our results hint at a specific involvement of PI-PLCbeta1 in epigenetic mechanisms, and are particularly consistent with the hypothesis of a role for PI-PLCbeta1 in azacitidine-induced myeloid differentiation.