Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, 13488, Korea.
Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul, 05029, Korea.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 3;14(1):3220. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39008-0.
Progesterone (P) is required for the preparation of the endometrium for a successful pregnancy. P resistance is a leading cause of the pathogenesis of endometrial disorders like endometriosis, often leading to infertility; however, the underlying epigenetic cause remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that CFP1, a regulator of H3K4me3, is required for maintaining epigenetic landscapes of P-progesterone receptor (PGR) signaling networks in the mouse uterus. Cfp1;Pgr-Cre (Cfp1) mice showed impaired P responses, leading to complete failure of embryo implantation. mRNA and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing analyses showed that CFP1 regulates uterine mRNA profiles not only in H3K4me3-dependent but also in H3K4me3-independent manners. CFP1 directly regulates important P response genes, including Gata2, Sox17, and Ihh, which activate smoothened signaling pathway in the uterus. In a mouse model of endometriosis, Cfp1 ectopic lesions showed P resistance, which was rescued by a smoothened agonist. In human endometriosis, CFP1 was significantly downregulated, and expression levels between CFP1 and these P targets are positively related regardless of PGR levels. In brief, our study provides that CFP1 intervenes in the P-epigenome-transcriptome networks for uterine receptivity for embryo implantation and the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
孕激素(P)是为成功妊娠准备子宫内膜所必需的。孕激素抵抗是子宫内膜疾病(如子宫内膜异位症)发病的主要原因,常导致不孕;然而,潜在的表观遗传原因仍不清楚。在这里,我们证明了 CFP1,一种 H3K4me3 的调节剂,对于维持小鼠子宫中孕激素-孕激素受体(PGR)信号网络的表观遗传景观是必需的。Cfp1;Pgr-Cre(Cfp1)小鼠表现出孕激素反应受损,导致胚胎着床完全失败。mRNA 和染色质免疫沉淀测序分析表明,CFP1 不仅以 H3K4me3 依赖的方式,而且以 H3K4me3 非依赖的方式调节子宫 mRNA 谱。CFP1 直接调节重要的孕激素反应基因,包括 Gata2、Sox17 和 Ihh,它们在子宫中激活 smoothened 信号通路。在子宫内膜异位症的小鼠模型中,Cfp1 异位病变表现出孕激素抵抗,用 smoothened 激动剂可以挽救这种抵抗。在人类子宫内膜异位症中,CFP1 表达显著下调,无论 PGR 水平如何,CFP1 与这些孕激素靶标之间的表达水平呈正相关。总之,我们的研究表明,CFP1 干预了子宫接受胚胎植入和子宫内膜异位症发病的孕激素-表观基因组-转录组网络。