Project description:Human melanomas frequently harbor amplifications of EZH2. However, the oncogenic contribution of this methyltransferase to melanoma formation has remained elusive. Taking advantage of murine melanoma models, we now show that EZH2 drives tumorigenesis from benign BrafV600E or NrasQ61K-expressing melanocytes. EZH2 oncogenicity results from silencing of genes relevant for the integrity of the primary cilium, a signaling organelle projecting from the surface of vertebrate cells. Consequently, gain of EZH2 function promotes loss of primary cilia in benign melanocytic lesions. In contrast, blockade of EZH2 activity evokes ciliogenesis and cilia-dependent growth inhibition in malignant melanoma. Finally, we demonstrate that loss of cilia enhances pro-tumorigenic WNT/β-catenin signaling and is itself sufficient to drive metastatic melanoma in benign cells. Thus, primary cilia deconstruction is a key process in EZH2-driven melanomagenesis.
Project description:Overexpression of EZH2 in estrogen receptor negative (ER-) breast cancer promotes metastasis. EZH2 has been mainly studied as the catalytic component of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) that mediates gene repression by trimethylating histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27me3). However, how EZH2 drives metastasis despite the low H3K27me3 levels observed in ER- breast cancer is unknown. We have shown that in human invasive carcinomas and distant metastases, cytoplasmic EZH2 phosphorylated at T367 is significantly associated with ER- disease and low H3K27me3 levels. Here, we explore the interactome of EZH2 and of a phosphodeficient mutant EZH2_T367A. We identified novel interactors of EZH2, and identified interactions that are dependent on the phosphorylation and cellular localization of EZH2 that may play a role in EZH2 dependent metastatic progression.
Project description:In melanoma metastasis, the role of the AP-2alpha transcription factor, which is encoded by TFAP2A, is controversial as some findings have suggested tumor suppressor activity while other studies have shown high TFAP2A expression in node-positive melanoma associated with poor prognosis. Here we demonstrate that AP-2alpha facilitates melanoma metastasis through transcriptional activation of genes within the E2F pathway including EZH2. A BioID screen found that AP-2alpha interacts with members of the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex. Loss of AP-2alpha removed activating chromatin marks in the promoters of EZH2 and other E2F target genes through activation of the NuRD repression complex. In melanoma cells, treatment witj tazemetostat, an FDA-approved and highly specific EZH2 inhibitor, substantially reduced anchorage-independent colony formation and demonstrated heritable anti-metastatic effects, which were dependent on AP-2alpha. Single cell RNA-seq analysis of a metastatic melanoma mouse model revealed hyperexpansion of Tfap2aHigh/E2F activated cell populations in transformed melanoma relative to progenitor melanocyte stem cells. These findings demonstrate that melanoma metastasis is driven by the AP-2alpha/EZH2 pathway and suggest that AP-2alpha expression can be used as a biomarker to predict responsiveness to EZH2 inhibitors for the treatment of advanced melanomas.
Project description:In melanoma metastasis, the role of the AP-2alpha transcription factor, which is encoded by TFAP2A, is controversial as some findings have suggested tumor suppressor activity while other studies have shown high TFAP2A expression in node-positive melanoma associated with poor prognosis. Here we demonstrate that AP-2alpha facilitates melanoma metastasis through transcriptional activation of genes within the E2F pathway including EZH2. A BioID screen found that AP-2alpha interacts with members of the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex. Loss of AP-2alpha removed activating chromatin marks in the promoters of EZH2 and other E2F target genes through activation of the NuRD repression complex. In melanoma cells, treatment witj tazemetostat, an FDA-approved and highly specific EZH2 inhibitor, substantially reduced anchorage-independent colony formation and demonstrated heritable anti-metastatic effects, which were dependent on AP-2alpha. Single cell RNA-seq analysis of a metastatic melanoma mouse model revealed hyperexpansion of Tfap2aHigh/E2F activated cell populations in transformed melanoma relative to progenitor melanocyte stem cells. These findings demonstrate that melanoma metastasis is driven by the AP-2alpha/EZH2 pathway and suggest that AP-2alpha expression can be used as a biomarker to predict responsiveness to EZH2 inhibitors for the treatment of advanced melanomas.
Project description:Centriolar satellites are an array of membrane-less granules that localize and move around the vertebrate centrosome/cilium complex. They have recently emerged as key regulators of the biogenesis and function of the centrosome/cilium-complex and their mutations are linked to ciliopathies. Although centriolar satellites are ubiquitous structures of the vertebrate cells, their precise function and molecular mechanism of action in different cell types remain poorly understood. Here, we generated kidney and retinal epithelial cells that lack centriolar satellites by genetically ablating their scaffolding protein PCM1 and investigated the cellular and molecular consequences of satellite loss in cells. We showed that centriolar satellites are required for cilium assembly, regulation of ciliary content, timely response to Hedgehog signals and three- dimensional epithelial cell organization, but not for cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and centriole duplication. Importantly, the requirement for centriolar satellites in cilium assembly varied between retinal and kidney epithelial cells and we identified the differences in the efficiency of targeting key ciliogenesis factors to the centrosome including Mib1 and Talpid3 as the likely molecular basis for this phenotypic variability. Quantitative global transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of satellite-less cells showed that loss of centriolar satellites does not lead to a major transcriptional response, but leads to a significant rearrangement of the global proteome. Together, our findings identify important roles for centriolar satellites in key cilium-related cellular processes through regulating the proteostasis and centrosomal/ciliary targeting of proteins and provide insight into the disease mechanisms of ciliopathies.
Project description:Efforts to therapeutically target EZH2 have generally focused on inhibition of its methyltransferase activity, although it remains less clear whether this is the central mechanism whereby EZH2 promotes cancer. We demonstrate that EZH2 directly interacts with both MYC family oncoproteins, MYC and MYCN, and promotes their stabilization in a methyltransferase-independent manner. By competing against the SCFFBW7 ubiquitin ligase to bind MYC and MYCN, EZH2 counteracted FBW7-mediated MYC(N) polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. Depletion, but not enzymatic inhibition, of EZH2 induced robust MYC(N) degradation and inhibited tumor cell growth in MYC(N) driven neuroblastoma and small cell lung cancer. These findings unveil the MYC family proteins as global EZH2 oncogenic effectors and EZH2 pharmacologic degraders as potential MYC(N) targeted cancer therapeutics, pointing out that MYC(N) driven cancers may develop inherent resistance to the canonical EZH2 enzymatic inhibitors currently in clinical development.
Project description:Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) possesses glioma stem cells (GSCs) that promote self-renewal, tumor propagation, and relapse. Understanding the mechanisms of GSCs self-renewal can offer targeted therapeutic interventions. However, insufficient knowledge of the fundamental biology of GSCs is a significant bottleneck hindering these efforts. Here, we show that patient-derived GSCs recruit an elevated level of proteins that ensure the temporal cilium disassembly, leading to suppressed ciliogenesis. Depleting the cilia disassembly complex components at the ciliary base is sufficient to induce ciliogenesis in a subset of GSCs via sequestering PDGFR-α from its original location to newly induced cilium. Importantly, restoring ciliogenesis caused GSCs to behave like healthy NPCs switching from self-renewal to differentiation. Finally, using an organoid-based glioma invasion assay and brain xenografts in mice, we establish that ciliogenesis-induced differentiation can prevent the infiltration of GSCs into the brain. Our findings illustrate a crucial role for cilium as a molecular switch in determining GSCs' fate and suggest that cilium induction is an attractive strategy to intervene in GSCs proliferation.
Project description:The EZH2 histone methyltransferase is highly expressed in germinal center (GC) B-cells and targeted by somatic mutations in B-cell lymphomas. Here we find that EZH2 deletion or pharmacologic inhibition suppresses GC formation and functions in mice. EZH2 represses proliferation checkpoint genes and helps establish bivalent chromatin domains at key regulatory loci to transiently suppress GC B-cell differentiation. Somatic mutations reinforce these physiological effects through enhanced silencing of EZH2 targets in B-cells, and in human B-cell lymphomas. Conditional expression of mutant EZH2 in mice induces GC hyperplasia and accelerated lymphomagenesis in cooperation with BCL2. GCB-type DLBCLs are mostly addicted to EZH2, regardless of mutation status, but not the more differentiated ABC-type DLBCLs, thus clarifying the therapeutic scope of EZH2 targeting. RNA sequencing and H3K27me3 ChIP sequencing of human DLBCL cell lines and murine BCL1 cell line. RNA sequencing, H3K27me3 and H3K4me3 ChIP sequencing of B cells from de-identified human tonsills.
Project description:The EZH2 histone methyltransferase is highly expressed in germinal center (GC) B-cells and targeted by somatic mutations in B-cell lymphomas. Here we find that EZH2 deletion or pharmacologic inhibition suppresses GC formation and functions in mice. EZH2 represses proliferation checkpoint genes and helps establish bivalent chromatin domains at key regulatory loci to transiently suppress GC B-cell differentiation. Somatic mutations reinforce these physiological effects through enhanced silencing of EZH2 targets in B-cells, and in human B-cell lymphomas. Conditional expression of mutant EZH2 in mice induces GC hyperplasia and accelerated lymphomagenesis in cooperation with BCL2. GCB-type DLBCLs are mostly addicted to EZH2, regardless of mutation status, but not the more differentiated ABC-type DLBCLs, thus clarifying the therapeutic scope of EZH2 targeting.
Project description:Melanoma incidence and mortality rates are historically higher for men than women. Although emerging studies have highlighted tumorigenic roles for the male sex hormone androgen and its receptor (AR) in melanoma, cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these sex-associated discrepancies are poorly defined. Here, we delineate a previously undisclosed mechanism by which androgen-activated AR transcriptionally upregulates fucosyltransferase 4 (FUT4) expression, which drives melanoma invasiveness by interfering with adherens junctions (AJs). Global phosphoproteomic and fucoproteomic profiling, coupled with in vitro and in vivo functional validation, further reveals that AR-induced FUT4 fucosylates L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM), which is required for FUT4-increased metastatic capacity. Tumor microarray and gene expression analyses demonstrate that AR-FUT4-L1CAM-AJs signaling correlates with pathological staging in melanoma patients. By delineating key androgen-triggered signaling that enhances metastatic aggressiveness, our findings help to explain sex-associated clinical outcome disparities and highlight AR/FUT4 and its effectors as potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in melanoma.