MiR-101 reverses the hypomethylation of the LMO3 promoter in glioma cells.

LIM-only protein 3 (LMO3), a member of the LIM-only protein group, is a new DNA methylation gene that was identified in gliomas via the MeDIP-Chip in our previous study. In this study, we found that LIM-only protein 3 (LMO3) is hypomethylated and overexpressed in glioma cells and tissues. The overexpression of LMO3 was correlated with a poor prognosis in glioma patients, and LMO3 was indirectly inhibited by the tumor suppressor miR-101, which is a potential prognosis marker of gliomas. MiR-101 decreased the expression of LMO3 by reversing the methylation status of the LMO3 promoter and by inhibiting the presence of the methylation-related histones H3K4me2 and H3K27me3 and increasing the presence of H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 on the promoter. It was determined that miR-101 decreases the occupancy of H3K27me3 by inhibiting EZH2, DNMT3A and EED and decreases the H3K9me3 occupancy on the LMO3 promoter via SUV39H1, SUV39H2, G9a and PHF8. Furthermore, miR-101 suppresses the expression of LMO3 by decreasing USF and MZF1.