Coupling of Glucose Deprivation with Impaired Histone H2B Monoubiquitination in Tumors
Figure 3
Glucose-induced uH2B is significantly impaired in cancer cells compared to their adjacent stromal tissues.
Human breast, colon and lung tumor specimens from surgery were immunohistochemically stained for uH2B and H2B and subsequently counter-stained with Hematoxylin. A. uH2B levels are inhibited in breast cancer cells in 36 out of 37 cases. Two representative cases are shown. Intense staining of uH2B was observed in normal myoepithelial and luminal epithelial cells of Duct 1 of a tumor specimen from breast cancer patient BC-D9. Although it was in the tumor specimen, Duct 1 had no cancer cells. uH2B was significantly reduced in luminal epithelial cancer cells, which was encircled with a dashed line in Duct 2. In contrast, uH2B remained high in normal luminal epithelial cells in Duct 2. Other cancer cells in BC-D9 tumor specimen were not separated with dashed lines for the purpose of clarity. Breast cancer cells from patient BC-01 also showed low uH2B staining, whereas adjacent normal cells maintained high uH2B staining. B. uH2B levels are drastically reduced in colon cancer cells in 35 out of 36 cases. Two representative cases are shown. C. uH2B levels are significantly inhibited in lung cancer cells in 35 out of 36 cases. Two representative cases are shown. The black arrow shows a piece of cigarette tar. N denotes normal cells or stromal tissues. C denotes cancer cells. Dashed lines demarcate cancer cells from their adjacent normal or stromal cells. Scale bar = 50 µm.