The histone acetyltransferase p300 regulates the expression of pluripotency factors and odontogenic differentiation of human dental pulp cells.

p300 is a well-known histone acetyltransferase (HAT) and coactivator that plays vital roles in many physiological processes. Despite extensive research on the involvement of p300 in the regulation of transcription in numerous cell lines, the roles of this protein in regulating pluripotency genes and odontogenic differentiation in human dental pulp cells (HDPCs) are poorly understood. To address this issue, we investigated the expression of OCT4, NANOG and SOX2 and the proliferation and odontogenic differentiation capacity of HDPCs following p300 overexpression. We found that p300 overexpression did not overtly affect the ability of HDPCs to proliferate. The overexpression of p300 upregulated the promoter activity and the mRNA and protein expression of NANOG and SOX2. The HAT activity of p300 appeared to partially mediate the regulation of these factors; indeed, when a mutant form of p300 lacking the HAT domain was overexpressed, the promoter activity and expression of NANOG and SOX2 decreased relative to p300 overexpression but was greater than in the control. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the mRNA levels of the odontogenic marker genes dentine matrix protein-1 (DMP-1), dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), dentin sialoprotein (DSP), osteopontin (OPN) and osteocalcin (OCN) were significantly decreased in HDPCs overexpressing p300 cultured under normal culture conditions and increased in HDPCs inducted to undergo odontogenic differentiation. This finding was further confirmed by measuring levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and assessing the formation of mineralized nodules. The HAT activity of p300 had no significant effect on odontogenic differentiation. p300 was recruited to the promoter regions of OCN and DSPP and might be acting as a coactivator to increase the acetylation of lysine 9 of histone H3 of OCN and DSPP. Collectively, our results show that p300 plays an important role in regulating the expression of key pluripotency genes in HDPCs and modifying odontogenic differentiation.