1. Academic Validation
  2. Re-programing Chromatin with a Bifunctional LSD1/HDAC Inhibitor Induces Therapeutic Differentiation in DIPG

Re-programing Chromatin with a Bifunctional LSD1/HDAC Inhibitor Induces Therapeutic Differentiation in DIPG

  • Cancer Cell. 2019 Nov 11;36(5):528-544.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.09.005.
Jamie N Anastas 1 Barry M Zee 1 Jay H Kalin 2 Mirhee Kim 3 Robyn Guo 4 Sanda Alexandrescu 5 Mario Andres Blanco 6 Stefanie Giera 7 Shawn M Gillespie 8 Jayanta Das 9 Muzhou Wu 10 Sarah Nocco 10 Dennis M Bonal 11 Quang-De Nguyen 11 Mario L Suva 12 Bradley E Bernstein 12 Rhoda Alani 10 Todd R Golub 13 Philip A Cole 2 Mariella G Filbin 14 Yang Shi 15
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Newborn Medicine and Epigenetics Program, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  • 2 Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
  • 3 NYU Medical School, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  • 4 Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
  • 5 Department of Pathology Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
  • 6 Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
  • 7 Sanofi, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
  • 8 Department of Pathology and Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
  • 9 Eshelman School of Pharmacy, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
  • 10 Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
  • 11 Lurie Family Imaging Center, Center for Biomedical Imaging in Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
  • 12 Department of Pathology and Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
  • 13 Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 500 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, 20815 MD, USA.
  • 14 Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 15 Division of Newborn Medicine and Epigenetics Program, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract

H3K27M mutations resulting in epigenetic dysfunction are frequently observed in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPGs), an incurable pediatric Cancer. We conduct a CRISPR screen revealing that knockout of KDM1A encoding lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) sensitizes DIPG cells to histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. Consistently, Corin, a bifunctional inhibitor of HDACs and LSD1, potently inhibits DIPG growth in vitro and in xenografts. Mechanistically, Corin increases H3K27me3 levels suppressed by H3K27M histones, and simultaneously increases HDAC-targeted H3K27ac and LSD1-targeted H3K4me1 at differentiation-associated genes. Corin treatment induces cell death, cell-cycle arrest, and a cellular differentiation phenotype and drives transcriptional changes correlating with increased survival time in DIPG patients. These data suggest a strategy for treating DIPG by simultaneously inhibiting LSD1 and HDACs.

Keywords

CRISPR screen; DIPG; HDAC; Histone H3 K27M; LSD1; cancer stem cell; differentiation therapy; enhancer; epigenetic; glioma.

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