Gene Expression Profile & Comparative Study of MBD Group Proteins in Leukemia Sample

Abstract

DNA methylation is the principle epigenetic modification mediating cell-specific functional variation in the phenotypic expression of the genome. This phenomenon is essential for genome maintenance and chromosomal integrity. The main players in this scheme are the DNA methyltransferases DNMT1, DNMT3A, DNMT3B who faithfully replicate the pre-existing methyl marks and propagate the methylation patterns across successive cell generations. The DNMTs are supported in their function by the methyl binding domain proteins called MBD proteins. This family of proteins preferentially binds methylated CpG dinucleotides, hinder the interaction of transcription factors with the DNA and prevent assembling of the transcriptional mechanism, thus result in heterochromatinization and transcriptional silencing. The functional significance of the MBD proteins in the transcriptional regulatory system necessitates the need to understand the involvement of these proteins in the epigenetic context. Keeping this observation in mind, the present study was designed to investigate the expression pattern and gene profiling of MBD proteins (MBD1, MBD2, MBD3 and MBD4) so as to conduct a comparative analysis of their relative levels of expression in leukemia samples. The project aims to provide a comprehensive knowledge about the expression of the MBD proteins in cancer samples in order to create a distinct epigenetic biomarker for effective prognosis of cancer. Further studies in a variety of different cancer tissues will provide an exhaustive idea regarding the role of MBD proteins in malignant transformation and subsequently result in an epigenetic signature for efficient molecular detection strategies.