TET1 inhibits the migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells by regulating autophagy

Abstract Methylation modifications play pertinent roles in regulating gene expression and various biological processes. The silencing of the demethylated modifier TET1 can affect the expressions of key oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, thus contributing to tumor formation. Nonetheless, how TET1 affects the progression of cervical cancer is yet to be elucidated. In this study, we found that the expression of TET1 was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer tissues. Functionally, TET1 knockdown in cervical cancer cells can promote cell proliferation, self-renewal, migration, invasion, and cervical xenograft tumor formation. On the contrary, its overexpression can reverse the aforementioned processes. Moreover, the autophagy level of cervical cancer cells can be enhanced after TET1 knockdown. Mechanistically, methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP)-sequencing and MeDIP quantitative real-time PCR revealed that TET1 mediates the methylation of autophagy promoter regions. These findings suggest that TET1 affects the malignant biological behavior of cervical cancer cells by altering the methylation levels of autophagy genes NKRF and HIST1H2AK, but the specific mechanism needs to be investigated further.