1. Academic Validation
  2. Induction of senescence-associated secretory phenotype underlies the therapeutic efficacy of PRC2 inhibition in cancer

Induction of senescence-associated secretory phenotype underlies the therapeutic efficacy of PRC2 inhibition in cancer

  • Cell Death Dis. 2022 Feb 15;13(2):155. doi: 10.1038/s41419-022-04601-6.
Liping Chu  # 1 2 Yuxiu Qu  # 1 Yang An  # 1 Linjun Hou 1 Juewan Li 1 Weijia Li 1 Gaofeng Fan 1 Bao-Liang Song 2 En Li 3 Liye Zhang 1 Wei Qi 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Gene Editing Center, School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China.
  • 2 Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
  • 3 China Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, 4218 Jinke Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
  • 4 Gene Editing Center, School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China. qiwei@shanghaitech.edu.cn.
  • # Contributed equally.
Abstract

The methyltransferase Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), composed of EZH2, SUZ12, and EED subunits, is associated with transcriptional repression via tri-methylation of histone H3 on lysine 27 residue (H3K27me3). PRC2 is a valid drug target, as the EZH2 gain-of-function mutations identified in patient samples drive tumorigenesis. PRC2 inhibitors have been discovered and demonstrated anti-cancer efficacy in clinic. However, their pharmacological mechanisms are poorly understood. MAK683 is a potent EED inhibitor in clinical development. Focusing on MAK683-sensitive tumors with SMARCB1 or ARID1A loss, we identified a group of PRC2 target genes with high H3K27me3 signal through epigenomic and transcriptomic analysis. Multiple senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) genes, such as GATA4, MMP2/10, ITGA2 and GBP1, are in this group besides previously identified CDKN2A/p16. Upon PRC2 inhibition, the de-repression of SASP genes is detected in multiple sensitive models and contributes to decreased Ki67+, extracellular matrix (ECM) reorganization, senescence associated inflammation and tumor regression even in CDKN2A/p16 knockout tumor. And the combination of PRC2 inhibitor and CDK4/6 inhibitor leads to better effect. The genes potential regulated by PRC2 in neuroblastoma samples exhibited significant enrichment of ECM and senescence associated inflammation, supporting the clinical relevance of our results. Altogether, our results unravel the pharmacological mechanism of PRC2 inhibitors and propose a combination strategy for MAK683 and other PRC2 drugs.

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