Homocysteine inhibits endothelial cell growth via DNA hypomethylation of the cyclin A gene.

We reported previously that homocysteine (Hcy) inhibits endothelial cell (EC) growth by transcriptional inhibition of the cyclin A gene via a hypomethylation-related mechanism. In this study, we examined the effect of Hcy on epigenetic modification of the cyclin A gene and its biologic role in human ECs. Cyclin A mRNA levels were significantly suppressed by Hcy and a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor. The cyclin A promoter contains a CpG island spanning a 477-bp region (-277/200). Bisulfite sequencing followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the cyclin A promoter (-267/37) showed that Hcy eliminated methylation at 2 CpG sites in the cyclin A promoter, one of which is located on the cycle-dependent element (CDE). Mutation of CG sequence on the CDE leads to a 6-fold increase in promoter activity. Hcy inhibited DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) activity by 30%, and reduced the binding of methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) and increased the bindings of acetylated histone H3 and H4 in the cyclin A promoter. Finally, adenovirus-transduced DNMT1 gene expression reversed the inhibitory effect of Hcy on cyclin A expression and EC growth inhibition. In conclusion, Hcy inhibits cyclin A transcription and cell growth by inhibiting DNA methylation through suppression of DNMT1 in ECs.