Keratinocyte differentiation induces APOBEC3A, 3B, and mitochondrial DNA hypermutation

Kousho Wakae*, Tomoaki Nishiyama, Satoru Kondo, Takashi Izuka, Lusheng Que, Cong Chen, Kina Kase, Kouichi Kitamura, Md Mohiuddin, Zhe Wang, Md Monjurul Ahasan, Mitsuhiro Nakamura, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tomokazu Yoshizaki, Kazuyoshi Hosomochi, Atsushi Tajima, Tomomi Nakahara, Tohru Kiyono, Masamichi Muramatsu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are found in many types of cancers and suspected to be involved in carcinogenesis, although the mechanism has not been elucidated. In this study, we report that consecutive C-to-T mutations (hypermutations), a unique feature of mutations induced by APOBECs, are found in mtDNA from cervical dysplasia and oropharyngeal cancers. In vitro, we found that APOBEC3A (A3A) and 3B (A3B) expression, as well as mtDNA hypermutation, were induced in a cervical dysplastic cell line W12 when cultured in a differentiating condition. The ectopic expression of A3A or A3B was sufficient to hypermutate mtDNA. Fractionation of W12 cell lysates and immunocytochemical analysis revealed that A3A and A3B could be contained in mitochondrion. These results suggest that mtDNA hypermutation is induced upon keratinocyte differentiation, and shed light on its molecular mechanism, which involves A3s. The possible involvement of mtDNA hypermutations in carcinogenesis is also discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9745
JournalScientific Reports
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018/12/01

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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