Epigenetic Effects of an Adenosine Derivative in a Wistar Rat Model of Liver Cirrhosis

ABSTRACT The pathological characteristic of cirrhosis is scarring which results in a structurally distorted and dysfunctional liver. Previously, we demonstrated that Col1a1 and Pparg genes are deregulated in CCl4‐induced cirrhosis but their normal expression levels are recovered upon treatment with IFC‐305, an adenosine derivative. We observed that adenosine was able to modulate S‐adenosylmethionine‐dependent trans‐methylation reactions, and recently, we found that IFC‐305 modulates HDAC3 expression. Here, we investigated whether epigenetic mechanisms, involving DNA methylation processes and histone acetylation, could explain the re‐establishment of gene expression mediated by IFC‐305 in cirrhosis. Therefore, Wistar rats were CCl4 treated and a sub‐group received IFC‐305 to reverse fibrosis. Global changes in DNA methylation, 5‐hydroxymethylation, and histone H4 acetylation were observed after treatment with IFC‐305. In particular, during cirrhosis, the Pparg gene promoter is depleted of histone H4 acetylation, whereas IFC‐305 administration restores normal histone acetylation levels which correlates with an increase of Pparg transcript and protein levels. In contrast, the promoter of Col1a1 gene is hypomethylated during cirrhosis but gains DNA methylation upon treatment with IFC‐305 which correlates with a reduction of Col1a1 transcript and protein levels. Our results suggest a model in which cirrhosis results in a general loss of permissive chromatin histone marks which triggers the repression of the Pparg gene and the upregulation of the Col1a1 gene. Treatment with IFC‐305 restores epigenetic modifications globally and specifically at the promoters of Pparg and Col1a1 genes. These results reveal one of the mechanisms of action of IFC‐305 and suggest a possible therapeutic function in cirrhosis. J. Cell. Biochem. 119: 401–413, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.