5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Plays a Critical Role in Glioblastomagenesis by Recruiting the CHTOP-Methylosome Complex

• Glioblastoma cells contain elevated levels of 5hmC and TET1
• TET1-mediated production of 5hmC is required for glioblastomagenesis
• 5hmC recruits the CHTOP-methylosome complex
• The CHTOP-methylosome complex methylates H4R3 and transactivates cancer-related genes

SummaryThe development of cancer is driven not only by genetic mutations but also by epigenetic alterations. Here, we show that TET1-mediated production of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is required for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that chromatin target of PRMT1 (CHTOP) binds to 5hmC. We found that CHTOP is associated with an arginine methyltransferase complex, termed the methylosome, and that this promotes the PRMT1-mediated methylation of arginine 3 of histone H4 (H4R3) in genes involved in glioblastomagenesis, including EGFR, AKT3, CDK6, CCND2, and BRAF. Moreover, we found that CHTOP and PRMT1 are essential for the expression of these genes and that CHTOP is required for the tumorigenicity of glioblastoma cells. These results suggest that 5hmC plays a critical role in glioblastomagenesis by recruiting the CHTOP-methylosome complex to selective sites on the chromosome, where it methylates H4R3 and activates the transcription of cancer-related genes.

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