ORIGINAL PAPER Expression of histone acetylases p300 and PCAF in pediatric astrocytomas Pilar Eguía-Aguilar & Mario Solís-Paredes & Paulina Reyes-Cid & Mario Perezpeña-Diazconti & Fernando Chico-Ponce de León & Stanislaw Sadowinski-Pine & Francisco Arenas-Huertero Received: 5 July 2012 / Accepted: 30 January 2013 / Published online: 14 February 2013 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Abstract Objects The protein 300 (p300) and p300/CBP-binding protein-associated factor (PCAF) are enzymes with histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity, a function that can become deregulated in different tumors and affect biological responses. Methods Due to the lack of information on the deregulation of these HATs in pediatric tumors, this study evaluated the expression of both the mRNA and proteins of p300 and PCAF in 54 samples of pediatric astrocytomas embedded in paraffin. Results PCAF was not expressed in normal brain tissue. In grade I tumors, the expression of p300 (1.1±0.1) and PCAF (1.2±0.11) was greater than those observed in grade III tumors: 0.72±0.15 for p300 and 0.55±0.11 for PCAF, and grade IV tumors: 0.74±0.13 for p300 and 0.55±0.13 for PCAF (p <0.05). Immunohistochemical staining revealed the same tendency towards a decrease in the expression of the protein as the degree of clinical severity increased. Patients with recurrent grades I, III, and IV tumors had the highest levels of PCAF, compared to those who showed no recurrence (p <0.05). Conclusions This work describes and confirms that these HATs play important roles in regulating genes and in the biological behavior of pediatric astrocytomas. Keywords Pediatric astrocytoma . Recurrent . GBM . Chromatin . HAT . p300 . PCAF Introduction The alterations of the structure of the chromatin caused by the action of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) severely affect gene transcription and participate in carcinogenesis [1]. The structure of the chromatin is sustained by modifi- cations of various proteins, including histones [2]. An im- balance in the expression of HATs and their activity may thus affect several processes in the cells [3]. One example of a HAT is the protein 300 (p300), a highly versatile transcrip- tional co-activator that participates in numerous physiolog- ical processes, including DNA replication, tissue differentiation, control points in the cell cycle, nuclear sig- naling due to AMPc, the response to hypoxia, and control of cell adhesion, among others [4]. In cancer, p300 functions as a tumor suppressor gene, as shown by studies that reveal that mutations in the germinal line of one of the alleles of the gene are causes of the Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, patients of which are predisposed to developing cancer [5]. In 80 % of glioblastomas multiforme (GBMs), the loss of heterozy- gosity in a band of the 22q13 chromosome—the one that contains the locus of the p300 gene [6]—has been demon- strated. In a study describing the differential expression of histone-modifying genes, Ozdag et al. [7] identified p300 as the least frequently expressed gene in all the tumor tissues analyzed from adult patients. The possible interaction among different HATs reveals their versatile role; for example, p300 can interact with the p300/CBP-binding protein-associated factor (PCAF) HAT [8]. One important function of PCAF is that it can bond to the same site where p300 binds to the E1A adenoviral P. Eguía-Aguilar : M. Solís-Paredes : P. Reyes-Cid : M. Perezpeña-Diazconti : S. Sadowinski-Pine : F. Arenas-Huertero (*) Departamento de Patología, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Dr. Márquez 162, Colonia Doctores, 06720 Mexico City, Mexico e-mail: rosco26@excite.com F. C.-P. de León Departamento de Neurocirugía, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Dr. Márquez 162, Colonia Doctores, 06720 Mexico City, Mexico Childs Nerv Syst (2013) 29:1089–1096 DOI 10.1007/s00381-013-2046-3