TitleHypoxia-induced CTCF mediates alternative splicing via coupling chromatin looping and RNA Pol II pause to promote EMT in breast cancer.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2025
AuthorsKakani P, Dhamdhere SGanesh, Pant D, Joshi R, Mishra S, Pandey A, Notani D, Shukla S
JournalCell Rep
Volume44
Issue2
Pagination115267
Date Published2025 Feb 04
ISSN2211-1247
KeywordsCOL5A1; CP: Cancer; CP: Molecular biology; CRISPR-dCas9-mediated editing; CTCF; EMT; alternative splicing; breast cancer; epigenetics; hypoxia; promoter-exon upstream looping.
Abstract

Hypoxia influences the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through the remodeling of the chromatin structure, epigenetics, and alternative splicing. Hypoxia drives CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) induction through hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1α), which promotes EMT, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We find that hypoxia significantly increases CTCF occupancy at various EMT-related genes. We present a CTCF-mediated intricate mechanism promoting EMT wherein CTCF binding at the collagen type V alpha 1 chain (COL5A1) promoter is crucial for COL5A1 upregulation under hypoxia. Additionally, hypoxia drives exon64A inclusion in a mutually exclusive alternative splicing event of COL5A1exon64 (exon64A/64B). Notably, CTCF mediates COL5A1 promoter-alternatively spliced exon upstream looping that regulates DNA demethylation at distal exon64A. This further regulates the CTCF-mediated RNA polymerase II pause at COL5A1exon64A, leading to its inclusion in promoting the EMT under hypoxia. Genome-wide study indicates the association of gained CTCF occupancy with the alternative splicing of many cancer-related genes, similar to the proposed model. Specifically, disrupting the HIF1α-CTCF-COL5A1exon64A axis through the dCas9-DNMT3A system alleviates the EMT in hypoxic cancer cells and may represent a novel therapeutic target in breast cancer.

URLhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39913285/
DOI10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115267
Alternate JournalCell Rep
PubMed ID39913285