Treatment with HKMTI-1-005, a dual inhibitor of EZH2 and G9a/GLP histone methyltransferases, promotes differentiation of acute myeloid leukaemialeukemia

ABSTRACT: The canonical function of EZH2 is methylation of H3K27, although important non-canonical roles have recently been described. EZH2 mutation or deregulated expression has been conclusively demonstrated in the pathogenesis and response to treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), thus making it an attractive therapeutic target. In this study, we therefore investigated whether inhibition of EZH2 might also improve the response of non-APL AML cells to ATRA-based therapy. We focused on GSK-343, a pyridone-containing S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) cofactor-competitive EZH2 inhibitor that is representative of its class, and HKMTI-1-005, a substrate-competitive dual inhibitor targeting EZH2 and the closely related G9A/GLP H3K9 methyltransferases. We found that treatment with HKMTI-1-005 phenocopied EZH2 knockdown and was more effective in inducing myeloid differentiation (both in the absence and presence of ATRA) than GSK-343, despite the efficacy of GSK-343 in terms of abolishing H3K27 trimethylation. Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis revealed that in contrast to treatment with GSK-343, HKMTI-1-005 upregulated the expression of myeloid differentiation pathway genes with and without ATRA, while downregulating genes associated with a hematopoietic stem cell phenotype. Expression data (by HuGene 1.0 ST Affymetrix arrays) from HL-60 AML cells treated for 3 days with EZH2 inhibitors (10µM GSK343 or 2.5µM HKMTI-1-005) with or without AtRA (0.1µM) as well as data from HL-60 cells stabelly transduced with EZH2 KD (shEZH2#1 and shEZH2#2) or control (Scr) lentiviruses, selected and expanded for ~20 days with or without treatment with 0.1µM AtRA for 3 days.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE222616 | GEO | 2023/03/10

REPOSITORIES: GEO