A central role for MeCP2 in the epigenetic repression of miR-200c during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of glioma

BACKGROUND: The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been linked to the regulation of glioma progression. However, the underlying signaling mechanisms that regulate EMT are poorly understood. METHODS: Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot were performed to detect the expression of MeCP2 in glioma tissues and cell lines. MeCP2 functions were tested with cell immunofluorescence staining and western blot. For in vivo experiments, mouse xenograft model was used to investigate the effects of MeCP2 on glioma. ChIP and Co-IP were used to detect the relationships among MeCP2, miR-200c and Suv39H1. RESULTS: In this study, we found that MeCP2 was frequently up-regulated in human glioma tissues and cell lines. MeCP2 knockdown remarkably induced cell epithelial phenotype and inhibited mesenchymal marker ZEB1 and ZEB2 in vitro and in vivo. In addition, MeCP2 in glioma tissues was negatively correlated with miR-200c expression, and miR-200c overexpression partially abrogated mesenchymal phenotype induced by MeCP2. More importantly, we showed that MeCP2 recruited H3K9 to the promoter of miR-200c by interacting with SUV39H1, resulting in EMT of glioma cells. CONCLUSIONS: This study for the first time reveals MeCP2 as a novel regulator of EMT in glioma and suggest that MeCP2 inhibition may represent a promising therapeutic option for suppressing EMT in glioma. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1341-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.