Bellon Marcia, Nicot Christophe
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA.
J Cancer Biol. 2021;2(3):71-74. doi: 10.46439/cancerbiology.2.028.
Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is an incurable leukemia deriving from human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-I) infected cells. In our most recent study, we discovered that methylation of the tumor suppressor, fragile histidine triad gene (FHIT), exists in the majority of acute and chronic ATL patients. Methylation was seen in non-tumorigenic cells, in cells with low levels of HTLV-I integrated DNA, in longitudinal samples from HTLV-I carriers, in a percentage of HTLV-I carriers, and in direct descendants of ATL patients. Overall, this suggests that FHIT methylation is likely present in patients, prior to HTLV-I infection, and predisposes HTLV-I carriers to ATL development. In this commentary we discuss the importance of developing diagnostic tools for the early detection of FHIT methylation and the possibility that prior FHIT methylation may predispose any individual to the development of cancer.
成人T细胞白血病（ATL）是一种源自人类T细胞白血病病毒（HTLV-I）感染细胞的无法治愈的白血病。在我们最近的研究中，我们发现大多数急性和慢性ATL患者中存在肿瘤抑制基因——脆性组氨酸三联体基因（FHIT）的甲基化。在非致瘤细胞、HTLV-I整合DNA水平较低的细胞、HTLV-I携带者的纵向样本、一定比例的HTLV-I携带者以及ATL患者的直系后代中均观察到甲基化。总体而言，这表明FHIT甲基化可能在HTLV-I感染之前就已存在于患者中，并使HTLV-I携带者易患ATL。在本评论中，我们讨论了开发用于早期检测FHIT甲基化的诊断工具的重要性，以及先前的FHIT甲基化可能使任何个体易患癌症的可能性。
