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DNA Methylation in Promoter Regions of Red Cell Membrane Protein Genes in Healthy Individuals and Patients with Hereditary Membrane Disorders

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Abstract

The methylation state of 5′-CG-3′ sites is known to be linked to the regulation of promoter function by modulating DNA-protein interactions and to the structure of chromatin. As part of a project to determine methylation patterns in the human genome, we examined the methylation profiles of several genes for human erythroid membrane proteins: ELB42 (protein 4.2), EPB3 (band 3), SPTB gene (β-spectrin), and ANK1 (ankyrin). The bisulfite protocol of the genomic sequencing method was applied. The number of 5′-CG-3′ dinucleotides was the most abundant in SPTB and ANK1, much less in EPB3, and the least in ELB42. In the DNA of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy individuals, the promoter regions of EPB3 and ELB42 were extensively methylated, but the SPTB and ANK1 promoters were totally unmethylated. We also investigated methylation profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with red cell membrane diseases, such as complete protein 4.2 deficiency due to ELB42 mutations, hereditary spherocytosis with EPB3 mutations, and hereditary elliptocytosis with SPTB mutations. The DNA methylation states in these genes of erythroid cells, which we obtained at the second phase of the 2-phase liquid culture of erythroid precursor cells in the peripheral blood, were essentially identical or very similar to those of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In disease states, the DNA methylation profiles of these red cell membrane protein genes were essentially not different from those in healthy individuals (statistically not significant).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Ralph Remus, Michael Zeschnigk, Ines Zuther, Birgit Schmitz, Frauke Naumann & Walter Doerfler

  2. Institute of Immunology, University of Essen Medical School, Essen, Germany

    Ralph Remus

  3. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Kawasaki Medical School, 577 Matsushima, 701-0192, Kurashiki City, Japan

    Akio Kanzaki, Ayumi Yawata, Hidekazu Nakanishi, Hideho Wada, Takashi Sugihara & Yoshihito Yawata

  4. Department of Medicine, Arisawa General Hospital, Hirakata, Japan

    Akio Kanzaki

  5. Institute of Human Genetics, University of Essen Medical School, Essen, Germany

    Michael Zeschnigk

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  1. Ralph Remus
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  3. Ayumi Yawata
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Correspondence to Yoshihito Yawata.

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Remus, R., Kanzaki, A., Yawata, A. et al. DNA Methylation in Promoter Regions of Red Cell Membrane Protein Genes in Healthy Individuals and Patients with Hereditary Membrane Disorders. Int J Hematol 81, 385–395 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1532/IJH97.04171

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