Project description:Chromatin modifications are increasingly recognized as a key mechanism in cancer. The histone methyl-transferase Enhancer of Zeste, Drosophila, Homolog 2 (EZH2) is the enzymatic subunit of the polycomb PRC2 complex and methylates histone H3K27, thereby, mediating gene silencing. Down-regulation of EZH2 by RNA interference in ET suppressed oncogenic transformation, tumor development and metastasis in a respective mouse model. Further microarray analysis of EZH2 knock down, or functionally linked HDAC-inhibitor treatment revealed an undifferentiated reversible phenotype in ET maintained by EZH2. EZH2 suppression resulted in a generalized loss of H3K27me3 as well as an increase in H3 acetylation levels. In addition, ChIP-Chip assays for H3K27me3 identified genes that had specifically lost H3K27me3 upon EZH2 silencing. These findings suggested that stemness features are preserved via epigenetic mechanisms. Taken together, the genetic EWS-Fli1 translocation is intimately linked to global and gene specific epigenetic alterations in ET biology. EZH2 mediates neuroectodermal and endothelial embryonal tumor stem cell growth and metastasic spread induced by a translocation derived chimeric transcription factor. Keywords: PNET, Ewing Tumor Epigenetic regulation A673 transiently transfected with siRNA-EZH2 and siRNA-scrambled were harvested and Chromatin-IPs of H3K27me3 or H3 followed by microarray hybridisation were carried out. For detailed procedures see Burdach et al. Epigenetic Maintenance of Stemness and Malignancy in Peripheral Neuroectodermal Tumors by EZH2.
Project description:Ewing Tumors (ET) are highly malignant tumors, localized in bone or soft tissue and are molecularly defined by ews/ets translocations. We identified histone methyl-transferase Enhancer of Zeste, Drosophila, Homolog 2 (EZH2) to be increased in ET. EZH2âs suppressive activity maintains stemness in normal and malignant cells. Here we found EZH2 to be upregulated by the pathognomonic fusion oncogene EWS-FLI1 in ET and mesenchymal stem cells. Downregulation of EZH2 by RNA interference in ET suppressed oncogenic transformation by inhibiting clonogenicity in vitro. Similarly, tumor development and metastasis in immunodeficient Rag2-/-γC-/- mice was suppressed. EZH2-mediated gene silencing was shown to be dependent on histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity. Subsequent microarray analysis of EZH2 knock down, HDAC-inhibitor treatment and confirmation in independent assays revealed an undifferentiated phenotype maintained by EZH2 in ET. Downregulation of EZH2 decreased histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) at target loci. EZH2 regulated stemness genes such as nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) as well as genes involved in neuroectodermal differentiation (EMP1, EPHB2, GFAP, GAP43). These data suggest that EZH2 might play a central role in Ewing Tumor pathology shaping the oncogenicity and stem cell phenotype of this tumor presumably by epigenetic regulation. Experiment Overall Design: A673 cells were treated for 24 hours either with 100 nM Trichostatin A (TSA) or 0.01% DMSO. In siRNA experiments with ezh2 specific siRNA A673 cells were resuspended in medium containing 5 nM siRNA and transfection reagent and incubated for 48 hours. RNA from cells under such treatment was isolated with Trizol and subjected to microarray analysis onto human U133A microarray following the Affymetrix protocol.
Project description:Ewing Tumors (ET) are highly malignant tumors, localized in bone or soft tissue and are molecularly defined by ews/ets translocations. We identified histone methyl-transferase Enhancer of Zeste, Drosophila, Homolog 2 (EZH2) to be increased in ET. EZH2’s suppressive activity maintains stemness in normal and malignant cells. Here we found EZH2 to be upregulated by the pathognomonic fusion oncogene EWS-FLI1 in ET and mesenchymal stem cells. Downregulation of EZH2 by RNA interference in ET suppressed oncogenic transformation by inhibiting clonogenicity in vitro. Similarly, tumor development and metastasis in immunodeficient Rag2-/-γC-/- mice was suppressed. EZH2-mediated gene silencing was shown to be dependent on histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity. Subsequent microarray analysis of EZH2 knock down, HDAC-inhibitor treatment and confirmation in independent assays revealed an undifferentiated phenotype maintained by EZH2 in ET. Downregulation of EZH2 decreased histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) at target loci. EZH2 regulated stemness genes such as nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) as well as genes involved in neuroectodermal differentiation (EMP1, EPHB2, GFAP, GAP43). These data suggest that EZH2 might play a central role in Ewing Tumor pathology shaping the oncogenicity and stem cell phenotype of this tumor presumably by epigenetic regulation.
Project description:Chromatin modifications are increasingly recognized as a key mechanism in cancer. The histone methyl-transferase Enhancer of Zeste, Drosophila, Homolog 2 (EZH2) is the enzymatic subunit of the polycomb PRC2 complex and methylates histone H3K27, thereby, mediating gene silencing. Down-regulation of EZH2 by RNA interference in ET suppressed oncogenic transformation, tumor development and metastasis in a respective mouse model. Further microarray analysis of EZH2 knock down, or functionally linked HDAC-inhibitor treatment revealed an undifferentiated reversible phenotype in ET maintained by EZH2. EZH2 suppression resulted in a generalized loss of H3K27me3 as well as an increase in H3 acetylation levels. In addition, ChIP-Chip assays for H3K27me3 identified genes that had specifically lost H3K27me3 upon EZH2 silencing. These findings suggested that stemness features are preserved via epigenetic mechanisms. Taken together, the genetic EWS-Fli1 translocation is intimately linked to global and gene specific epigenetic alterations in ET biology. EZH2 mediates neuroectodermal and endothelial embryonal tumor stem cell growth and metastasic spread induced by a translocation derived chimeric transcription factor. Keywords: PNET, Ewing Tumor Epigenetic regulation
Project description:BACKGROUND: The polycomb group protein Ezh2 is an epigenetic repressor of transcription originally found to prevent untimely differentiation of pluripotent embryonic stem cells. We previously demonstrated that Ezh2 is also expressed in multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs). We showed that Ezh2 expression is downregulated during NSC differentiation into astrocytes or neurons. However, high levels of Ezh2 remained present in differentiating oligodendrocytes until myelinating. This study aimed to elucidate the target genes of Ezh2 in NSCs and in premyelinating oligodendrocytes (pOLs). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing to detect the target genes of Ezh2 in NSCs and pOLs. We found 1532 target genes of Ezh2 in NSCs. During NSC differentiation, the occupancy of these genes by Ezh2 was alleviated. However, when the NSCs differentiated into oligodendrocytes, 393 of these genes remained targets of Ezh2. Analysis of the target genes indicated that the repressive activity of Ezh2 in NSCs concerns genes involved in stem cell maintenance, in cell cycle control and in preventing neural differentiation. Among the genes in pOLs that were still repressed by Ezh2 were most prominently those associated with neuronal and astrocytic committed cell lineages. Suppression of Ezh2 activity in NSCs caused loss of stem cell characteristics, blocked their proliferation and ultimately induced apoptosis. Suppression of Ezh2 activity in pOLs resulted in derangement of the oligodendrocytic phenotype, due to re-expression of neuronal and astrocytic genes, and ultimately in apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data indicate that the epigenetic repressor Ezh2 in NSCs is crucial for proliferative activity and maintenance of neural stemness. During differentiation towards oligodendrocytes, Ezh2 repression continues particularly to suppress other neural fate choices. Ezh2 is completely downregulated during differentiation towards neurons and astrocytes allowing transcription of these differentiation programs. The specific fate choice towards astrocytes or neurons is apparently controlled by epigenetic regulators other than Ezh2. Examination of Ezh2 target sites in 2 different primary cells types
Project description:BACKGROUND: The polycomb group protein Ezh2 is an epigenetic repressor of transcription originally found to prevent untimely differentiation of pluripotent embryonic stem cells. We previously demonstrated that Ezh2 is also expressed in multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs). We showed that Ezh2 expression is downregulated during NSC differentiation into astrocytes or neurons. However, high levels of Ezh2 remained present in differentiating oligodendrocytes until myelinating. This study aimed to elucidate the target genes of Ezh2 in NSCs and in premyelinating oligodendrocytes (pOLs). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing to detect the target genes of Ezh2 in NSCs and pOLs. We found 1532 target genes of Ezh2 in NSCs. During NSC differentiation, the occupancy of these genes by Ezh2 was alleviated. However, when the NSCs differentiated into oligodendrocytes, 393 of these genes remained targets of Ezh2. Analysis of the target genes indicated that the repressive activity of Ezh2 in NSCs concerns genes involved in stem cell maintenance, in cell cycle control and in preventing neural differentiation. Among the genes in pOLs that were still repressed by Ezh2 were most prominently those associated with neuronal and astrocytic committed cell lineages. Suppression of Ezh2 activity in NSCs caused loss of stem cell characteristics, blocked their proliferation and ultimately induced apoptosis. Suppression of Ezh2 activity in pOLs resulted in derangement of the oligodendrocytic phenotype, due to re-expression of neuronal and astrocytic genes, and ultimately in apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data indicate that the epigenetic repressor Ezh2 in NSCs is crucial for proliferative activity and maintenance of neural stemness. During differentiation towards oligodendrocytes, Ezh2 repression continues particularly to suppress other neural fate choices. Ezh2 is completely downregulated during differentiation towards neurons and astrocytes allowing transcription of these differentiation programs. The specific fate choice towards astrocytes or neurons is apparently controlled by epigenetic regulators other than Ezh2.
Project description:The mechanism governing the transition of human embryonic stem cells towards differentiated cells is only partially understood. To explore this transition, the activity and expression of the ubiquitous phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K α and β) were modulated. This study reports a pathway that dismantles the repression imposed by the EZH2 polycomb repressor on an essential stemness gene, NODAL, and on transcription factors required at differentiation to trigger primitive streak formation. The primitive streak is the site where gastrulation begins to give rise to the three embryonic cell layers from which all human tissues derive. The pathway involves an essential PI3Kβ-non-catalytic action for control of active-RAC1 levels, c-Jun-Nterminal-kinase activation and nuclear β-CATENIN accumulation. β-CATENIN deposition at promoters triggers the release of EZH2 repressor permitting both stemness maintenance (through control of NODAL) and correct differentiation, by allowing primitive streak master genes expression. PI3Kβ -mediated epigenetic control of EZH2/β-CATENIN might be modulated to direct stem cell differentiation.
Project description:Epigenetic regulators are commonly mutated in cancer. Activating mutations and overexpression of the lysine histone methyltransferase EZH2 occur in lymphoma and other malignancies, while loss-of-function mutations are found in myeloid malignancies. We study this apparent contradiction, examining the importance of cellular context for Ezh2 loss during the evolution of a single malignancy, Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Remarkably, we observe diametrically opposite functions for Ezh2 at early and late stages during the evolution of leukemias generated by different AML-associated fusion-oncogenes. During disease maintenance we demonstrate that Ezh2 functions as an oncogene that may be therapeutically targeted. In contrast, Ezh2 acts as a tumour suppressor during AML induction and loss-of-function EZH2 mutations occur early in AML patient samples and confer a poor prognosis. Integrated genomic analysis demonstrates that different expression programmes are de-repressed during AML induction and maintenance following Ezh2 loss. During disease induction, Ezh2 loss de-represses a subset of bivalent promoters that resolve towards gene activation, inducing a feto-oncogene programme including genes such as Plag1, whose overexpression phenocopies Ezh2 loss to accelerate AML induction in mouse models. Our data highlight the importance of cellular context and phase of disease evolution for Ezh2 function. Moreover, we further identify EZH2 as a potential target in AML, whilst providing reassurance of the safety of this therapeutic strategy.