Project description:Characterisation of the impact of 24 hours of NMT inhibition (100 nM IMP1088) on the P493-6 cell line with medium levels of MYC and high levels of MYC.
Project description:Deregulated expression of MYC enhances glutamine utilization and renders cell survival dependent on glutamine, inducing “glutamine addiction”. Surprisingly, colon cancer cells that express high levels of MYC due to WNT pathway mutations, are not glutamine-addicted but undergo a reversible cell cycle arrest upon glutamine deprivation. We show here that glutamine deprivation suppresses translation of endogenous MYC via the 3’-UTR of the MYC mRNA, enabling escape from apoptosis. This regulation is mediated by glutamine-dependent changes in adenosine nucleotide levels. Glutamine deprivation causes a global reduction in promoter association of RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) and slows transcriptional elongation. While activation of MYC restores binding of MYC and RNAPII function on most promoters, restoration of elongation is imperfect and activation of MYC in the absence of glutamine causes stalling of RNAPII on multiple genes, correlating with R-loop formation. Stalling of RNAPII and R-loop formation can cause DNA damage, arguing that the MYC 3’-UTR is critical for maintaining genome stability when ribonucleotide levels are low.
Project description:MYC is a driver oncogene in many cancers. Inhibition of MYC promises high therapeutic potential, but specific MYC inhibitors remain unavailable for clinical use. Previous studies suggest that MYC amplified Medulloblastoma cells are vulnerable to HDAC inhibition. Using co-immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry and ChIP-sequencing we show that HDAC2 is a cofactor of MYC in MYC amplified primary medulloblastoma and cell lines. The MYC-HDAC2 complex is bound to genes defining the MYC-dependent transcriptional profile. Class I HDAC inhibition leads to stabilization and reduced DNA binding of MYC protein inducing a down-regulation of MYC activated genes (MAGs) and up-regulation of MYC repressed genes (MRGs). MAGs and MRGs are characterized by opposing biological functions and distinct E-box distribution. We conclude that MYC and HDAC2 (class I) are localized in a complex in MYC amplified medulloblastoma and drive a MYC-specific transcriptional program, which is reversed by the class I HDAC inhibitor entinostat. Thus, the development of HDAC inhibitors for treatment of MYC amplified medulloblastoma should include HDAC2 in its profile in order to directly target MYC´s trans-activating and trans-repressing function.
Project description:P493-6 cells are immortalized human peripheral B cells that carry a conditional, tetracycline-regulated myc gene. We present ChIP-seq analysis of key transcritional regulators in P493-6 cells expressing various levels of c-Myc: 0hr (low c-Myc levels), 1hr (intermediate c-Myc levels), 24hr (very high c-Myc levels) and No Tet (steady-state c-Myc levels). Brd4, c-Myc, Max, Med1, RNAPII, and the chromatin modification H3K27Ac were profiled in P493-6 cells
Project description:Epigenetic alterations appear to modulate Myc signaling. We investigated the role of the histone demethylase JMJD2B in Myc-mediated neuroblastoma pathogenesis. We demonstrate that Myc physically interacts with and recruits this epigenetic modifier, which removes repressive H3K9 methyl marks from Myc-target genes. JMJD2B regulates neuroblastoma proliferation and, together with MYCN amplification, identifies a subgroup of poor prognosis patients. We identify a novel histone demethylase inhibitor, ciclopirox, which targets JMJD2B and, consequently, Myc signaling, thereby inhibiting neuroblastoma proliferation and inducing differentiation. In xenograft studies, genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of JMJD2B resulted in significant tumor growth restriction. Our findings provide insight into epigenetic regulation of Myc via histone methylation and proof-of-concept for pharmacologic inhibition of histone demethylases to target Myc signaling in cancer. 8 samples were treated with vehicle or ciclopirox.
Project description:Epigenetic alterations appear to modulate Myc signaling. We investigated the role of the histone demethylase JMJD2B in Myc-mediated neuroblastoma pathogenesis. We demonstrate that Myc physically interacts with and recruits this epigenetic modifier, which removes repressive H3K9 methyl marks from Myc-target genes. JMJD2B regulates neuroblastoma proliferation and, together with MYCN amplification, identifies a subgroup of poor prognosis patients. We identify a novel histone demethylase inhibitor, ciclopirox, which targets JMJD2B and, consequently, Myc signaling, thereby inhibiting neuroblastoma proliferation and inducing differentiation. In xenograft studies, genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of JMJD2B resulted in significant tumor growth restriction. Our findings provide insight into epigenetic regulation of Myc via histone methylation and proof-of-concept for pharmacologic inhibition of histone demethylases to target Myc signaling in cancer. 8 samples were transfected with two different siRNAs for control, JMJD2B, MYCN and JARID1A.
Project description:P493-6 cells are immortalized human peripheral B cells that carry a conditional, tetracycline-regulated myc gene. We present ChIP-seq analysis of key transcritional regulators in P493-6 cells expressing various levels of c-Myc: 0hr (low c-Myc levels), 1hr (intermediate c-Myc levels), 24hr (very high c-Myc levels) and No Tet (steady-state c-Myc levels).
Project description:Myc is a well known transcription factor with important roles in cell cycle, apoptosis and cellular transformation. Long non-coding (lnc)RNAs have recently emerged as a important class of regulatory RNAs. Here, we show that lncRNAs are an extensive component of the Myc-regulated transcriptional program. Using the P493-6 inducible Myc model we demonstrate that both Myc-induced mRNAs and lncRNAs were significant enriched for Myc binding sites. In contrast to Myc-repressed mRNAs, Myc-repressed lncRNAs were significantly enriched for Myc binding sites. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that Myc-repressed lncRNAs and mRNAs are enriched in the nucleus while Myc-induced lncRNAs and mRNAs are enriched both in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Parallel analysis of differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs identified 105 lncRNA-mRNA pairs that were in close vicinity, indicative for regulation in cis. To support the potential relevance of the Myc-regulated lncRNAs in cellular transformation, we analyzed their expression in primary Myc-high and Myc-low B-cell lymphomas. In total, 54% of the lncRNAs differentially expressed between the lymphoma subsets were identified as Myc-regulated in P493-6 cells. This study is the first to show that lncRNAs are an important factor within the Myc-regulated transcriptional program and indicates a marked difference between Myc-repressed lncRNAs and mRNAs. P493-6: 72h Tet treated (low c-myc levels), t=4h (intermediate c-myc levels), t=24h (high c-myc levels), untreated (steady state c-myc levels) Expression of all known mRNAs and >10 000 lncRNAs was assessed in P493-6 B cells with different c-myc levels
Project description:As the most life-threatening subtype of pediatric medulloblastoma (MB), MYC-amplified Group 3 (G3) MB lacks effective and selective therapeutics. We tried to indirectly target MYC (oncogenic driver and cancer-dependent molecule) production via inhibiting translational machinery. Through multiple datasets analyses on components of eIF4F (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4F) complex, we found that EIF4A1 (major component with RNA helicase activity) has relatively higher expression level and the closest positive correlation with MYC in G3-MB among normal control and other 3 subtypes (e.g., WNT, SHH and G4). Both in vitro and in vivo experiments with MYC-amplified G3-MB cell lines showed effective growth inhibition upon EIF4A1 knockout or inhibitor treatment. Further FACS analysis found decreased cell proliferation and enhanced apoptosis on EIF4A1 inhibitor treatment. To explore the mechanisms of EIF4A1 inhibition on arresting MYC-amplified G3-MB, we performed the whole proteome analyses on corresponding MB cells treated with EIF4A1 inhibitor.
Project description:MYC is a driver oncogene in many cancers. Inhibition of MYC promises high therapeutic potential, but specific MYC inhibitors remain unavailable for clinical use. Previous studies suggest that MYC amplified Medulloblastoma cells are vulnerable to HDAC inhibition. Using co-immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry and ChIP-sequencing we show that HDAC2 is a cofactor of MYC in MYC amplified primary medulloblastoma and cell lines. The MYC-HDAC2 complex is bound to genes defining the MYC-dependent transcriptional profile. Class I HDAC inhibition leads to stabilization and reduced DNA binding of MYC protein inducing a down-regulation of MYC activated genes (MAGs) and up-regulation of MYC repressed genes (MRGs). MAGs and MRGs are characterized by opposing biological functions and distinct E-box distribution. We conclude that MYC and HDAC2 (class I) are localized in a complex in MYC amplified medulloblastoma and drive a MYC-specific transcriptional program, which is reversed by the class I HDAC inhibitor entinostat. Thus, the development of HDAC inhibitors for treatment of MYC amplified medulloblastoma should include HDAC2 in its profile in order to directly target MYC´s trans-activating and trans-repressing function.