Epigenetic changes involved in hydroquinone-induced mutations

Abstract

Hydroquinone (HQ), an active metabolite of benzene, plays an important role in the malignant hematopathy caused by benzene. Malignant transformation has been observed after 20 or 29 weeks of in vitro exposure to HQ and two years of in vivo exposure to HQ. Many epigenetic events have been identified in the process of HQ-induced mutations, suggesting that epigenetic changes may play important roles in the onset and process of HQ-induced carcinogenesis. In this review, we for the first time summarize the epigenetic mechanisms identified following exposure to HQ to provide more potential biomarkers and targets for the diagnosis and treatment of malignant hematopathy induced by benzene and its metabolites. The identified epigenetic changes are as follows: global DNA hypomethylation; hypomethylation of the thrombopoietin receptor MPL proto-oncogene; hypermethylation of the Rb and PTEN tumor suppressor genes; hypermethylation of erythroid-specific genes; enzymology of DNA methylation; phosphorylation, acetylation, and methylation of histones; aberrant expression of miRNAs and lncRNAs; and chromatin remodeling.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Hydroquinone
• mutation
• epigenetic
• DNA methylation
• histone modifications
• ncRNAs

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the language assistance of Dr. Zhang.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Major Basic Research Project of Guangdong Province [China; No. 2017KZDXM041], the Guangdong Provincial University Key Platform Featured Innovation Project (Natural Sciences) [No. 2015KTSCX052], the Guangdong Medical University of Provincial and Municipal Construction of Colleges and Universities Project [No. 4SG18102G and 4SG18056G], the Provincial Preponderant Key Subjects of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Project [No. 4SG18004G and 4SG17043], the National and Provincial College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program [No. 4SG18040G], and Medical research fund project of Guangdong province [No.A2018197 and A2019404].