1. Academic Validation
  2. The PRC2 molecule EED is a target of epigenetic therapy for neuroblastoma

The PRC2 molecule EED is a target of epigenetic therapy for neuroblastoma

  • Eur J Cell Biol. 2022 Jun-Aug;101(3):151238. doi: 10.1016/j.ejcb.2022.151238.
Dilibaerguli Shaliman 1 Hisanori Takenobu 2 Ryuichi P Sugino 2 Miki Ohira 2 Takehiko Kamijo 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Research Institute for Clinical Oncology, Saitama Cancer Center, Saitama, Japan; Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Biology, Department of Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama, Japan.
  • 2 Research Institute for Clinical Oncology, Saitama Cancer Center, Saitama, Japan.
  • 3 Research Institute for Clinical Oncology, Saitama Cancer Center, Saitama, Japan; Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Biology, Department of Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama, Japan. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

Epigenetic modifications by polycomb repressive complex (PRC) molecules appear to play a role in the tumorigenesis and aggressiveness of neuroblastoma (NB). Embryonic ectoderm development (EED) is a member of the PRC2 complex that binds to the H3K27me3 mark deposited by EZH2 via propagation on adjacent nucleosomes. We herein investigated the molecular roles of EED in MYCN-amplified NB cells using EED-knockdown (KD) shRNAs, EED-knockout sgRNAs, and the EED small molecule inhibitor EED226. The suppression of EED markedly inhibited NB cell proliferation and flat and soft agar colony formation. A transcriptome analysis using microarrays of EED-KD NB cells indicated the de-repression of cell cycle-regulated and differentiation-related genes. The results of a GSEA analysis suggested that inhibitory cell cycle-regulated gene sets were markedly up-regulated. Furthermore, an epigenetic treatment with the EED inhibitor EED226 and the HDAC inhibitors valproic acid/SAHA effectively suppressed NB cell proliferation and colony formation. This combined epigenetic treatment up-regulated cell cycle-regulated and differentiation-related genes. The ChIP sequencing analysis of histone codes and PRC molecules suggested an epigenetic background for the de-repression of down-regulated genes in MYCN-amplified/PRC2 up-regulated NB.

Keywords

EED; Histone code; Neuroblastoma; Polycomb.

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