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The TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion is the most frequent alteration observed in human prostate cancer. However, its role in disease progression is still unclear. In this study, we uncover an important mechanism promoting ERG oncogenic activity. We show that ERG is methylated by Enhancer of zest homolog 2 (EZH2) at a specific lysine residue (K362) located within the internal auto-inhibitory domain. Mechanistically, K362 methylation modifies intra-domain interactions, favors DNA binding and enhances ERG transcriptional activity. In a genetically engineered mouse model of ERG fusion-positive prostate cancer (Pb-Cre4 Pten flox/flox Rosa26-ERG, ERG/PTEN), ERG K362 methylation is associated with PTEN loss and progression to invasive adenocarcinomas. In both ERG positive VCaP cells and ERG/PTEN mice, PTEN loss results in AKT activation and EZH2 phosphorylation at serine 21 that favors ERG methylation. We find that ERG and EZH2 interact and co-occupy several sites in the genome forming trans-activating complexes. Consistently, ERG/EZH2 co-regulated target genes are deregulated preferentially in tumors with concomitant ERG gain and PTEN loss and in castration-resistant prostate cancers. Collectively, these findings identify ERG methylation as a post-translational modification sustaining disease progression in ERG-positive prostate cancers., Although the TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion is the most common alteration in human prostate cancer, its involvement in disease progression remains unclear. Here, the authors demonstrate that ERG is methylated by Enhancer of zest homolog 2 leading to enhanced transcriptional and oncogenic activity.

Methylation at 5-cytosine (5-mC) is a fundamental epigenetic DNA modification associated recently with cardiac disease. In contrast, the role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC)—5-mC's oxidation product—in cardiac biology and disease is unknown. Here we assess the hydroxymethylome in embryonic, neonatal, adult and hypertrophic mouse cardiomyocytes, showing that dynamic modulation of hydroxymethylated DNA is associated with specific transcriptional networks during heart development and failure. DNA hydroxymethylation marks the body of highly expressed genes as well as distal regulatory regions with enhanced activity. Moreover, pathological hypertrophy is characterized by a shift towards a neonatal 5-hmC distribution pattern. We also show that the ten-eleven translocation 2 (TET2) enzyme regulates the expression of key cardiac genes, such as Myh7, through 5-hmC deposition on the gene body and at enhancers. Thus, we provide a genome-wide analysis of 5-hmC in the cardiomyocyte and suggest a role for this epigenetic modification in heart development and disease., 5-hydroxymethylation of cysteine (5-hmC) plays a role in epigenetic regulation. Here the authors analyse the hydroxymethylome in embryonic, neonatal, adult and hypertrophic mouse cardiomyocytes and show that the dynamic modulation of hydroxymethylated DNA is important for cardiomyocyte gene expression programming in heart development and failure.