Epigenetics of Epileptogenesis-Evoked Upregulation of Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 in Hippocampus.

Enhanced levels of Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of epilepsy in humans and rodents. Lack of Mmp-9 impoverishes, whereas excess of Mmp-9 facilitates epileptogenesis. Epigenetic mechanisms driving the epileptogenesis-related upregulation of MMP-9 expression are virtually unknown. The aim of this study was to reveal these mechanisms. We analyzed hippocampi extracted from adult and pediatric patients with temporal lobe epilepsy as well as from partially and fully pentylenetetrazole kindled rats. We used a unique approach to the analysis of the kindling model results (inclusion in the analysis of rats being during kindling, and not only a group of fully kindled animals), which allowed us to separate the molecular effects exerted by the epileptogenesis from those related to epilepsy and epileptic activity. Consequently, it allowed for a disclosure of molecular mechanisms underlying causes, and not consequences, of epilepsy. Our data show that the epileptogenesis-evoked upregulation of Mmp-9 expression is regulated by removal from Mmp-9 gene proximal promoter of the two, interweaved potent silencing mechanisms-DNA methylation and Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)-related repression. Demethylation depends on a gradual dissociation of the DNA methyltransferases, Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b, and on progressive association of the DNA demethylation promoting protein Gadd45ß to Mmp-9 proximal gene promoter in vivo. The PRC2-related mechanism relies on dissociation of the repressive transcription factor YY1 and the dissipation of the PRC2-evoked trimethylation on Lys27 of the histone H3 from the proximal Mmp-9 promoter chromatin in vivo. Moreover, we show that the DNA hydroxymethylation, a new epigenetic DNA modification, which is localized predominantly in the gene promoters and is particularly abundant in the brain, is not involved in a regulation of MMP-9 expression during the epileptogenesis in the rat hippocampus as well as in the hippocampi of pediatric and adult epileptic patients. Additionally, we have also found that despite of its transient nature, the histone modification H3S10ph is strongly and gradually accumulated during epileptogenesis in the cell nuclei and in the proximal Mmp-9 gene promoter in the hippocampus, which suggests that H3S10ph can be involved in DNA demethylation in mammals, and not only in Neurospora. The study identifies MMP-9 as the first protein coding gene which expression is regulated by DNA methylation in human epilepsy. We present a detailed epigenetic model of the epileptogenesis-evoked upregulation of MMP-9 expression in the hippocampus. To our knowledge, it is the most complex and most detailed mechanism of epigenetic regulation of gene expression ever revealed for a particular gene in epileptogenesis. Our results also suggest for the first time that dysregulation of DNA methylation found in epilepsy is a cause rather than a consequence of this condition.

A new rapid and cost-effective method for detection of phages, ICEs and virulence factors encoded by Streptococcus pyogenes.

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus, GAS) is a human pathogen that causes diseases of various intensity, from mild strep throat to life threatening invasive infections and postinfectional sequelae. S. pyogenes encodes multiple, often phage encoded, virulence factors and their presence is related to severity of the disease. Acquisition of mobile genetic elements, carrying virulence factors, as phages or ICEs (integrative and cojugative elements) has been shown previously to promote selection of virulent clones. We designed the system of eight low volume multi- and one singleplex PCR reactions to detect genes encoding twenty virulence factors (spd3, sdc, sdaB, sdaD, speB, spyCEP, scpA, mac, sic, speL, K, M, C, I, A, H, G, J, smeZ and ssa) and twenty one phage and ICE integration sites described so far for S. pyogenes. Classification of strains based on the phage and virulence factors absence or presence, correlates with PFGE MLST and emm typing results. We developed a novel, fast and cost effective system that can be used to detect GAS virulence factors. Moreover, this system may become an alternative and effective system to differentiate between GAS strains.