Epigenetic inactivation of the candidate tumor suppressor gene ASC/TMS1 in human renal cell carcinoma and its role as a potential therapeutic target

This study investigated the epigenetic alteration and biological function of the pro-apoptotic gene ASC/TMS1 in renal cell carcinoma. ASC/TMS1 was downregulated in five out of six RCC cell lines. A significant downregulation was also detected in sixty-seven paired renal tumors compared with adjacent non-cancerous tissues. The downregulation of ASC/TMS1 was correlated with promoter hypermethylation and could be restored with demethylation treatment. Re-expression of ASC/TMS1 in silenced RCC cell lines inhibited cell viability, colony formation, arrested cell cycle, induced apoptosis, suppressed cell invasion and repressed tumorigenicity in SCID mice. The antitumorigenic function of ASC/TMS1 in renal cancer was partially regulated by activation of p53 and p21 signaling. In addition, restoration of ASC/TMS1 sensitizes RCC cells to DNA damaging agents. Knockdown of ASC/TMS1 reduced DNA damaging agents-induced p53 activation and cell apoptosis. Moreover, ASC/TMS1 hypermethylation was further detected in 41.1% (83/202) of RCC tumors, but only 12% in adjacent non-cancerous tissues. ASC/TMS1 methylation was significantly correlated with higher tumor nuclear grade. In conclusion, ASC/TMS1 is a novel functional tumor suppressor in renal carcinogenesis. ASC/TMS1 tumor specific methylation may be a useful biomarker for designing improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for RCC.