Targeting the Senescence-Overriding Cooperative Activity of Structurally Unrelated H3K9 Demethylases in Melanoma

Publication date: 12 February 2018
Source:Cancer Cell, Volume 33, Issue 2
Author(s): Yong Yu, Kolja Schleich, Bin Yue, Sujuan Ji, Philipp Lohneis, Kristel Kemper, Mark S. Silvis, Nouar Qutob, Ellen van Rooijen, Melanie Werner-Klein, Lianjie Li, Dhriti Dhawan, Svenja Meierjohann, Maurice Reimann, Abdel Elkahloun, Steffi Treitschke, Bernd Dörken, Christian Speck, Frédérick A. Mallette, Leonard I. Zon, Sheri L. Holmen, Daniel S. Peeper, Yardena Samuels, Clemens A. Schmitt, Soyoung Lee
Oncogene-induced senescence, e.g., in melanocytic nevi, terminates the expansion of pre-malignant cells via transcriptional silencing of proliferation-related genes due to decoration of their promoters with repressive trimethylated histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) marks. We show here that structurally distinct H3K9-active demethylases—the lysine-specific demethylase-1 (LSD1) and several Jumonji C domain-containing moieties (such as JMJD2C)—disable senescence and permit Ras/Braf-evoked transformation. In mouse and zebrafish models, enforced LSD1 or JMJD2C expression promoted Braf-V600E-driven melanomagenesis. A large subset of established melanoma cell lines and primary human melanoma samples presented with a collective upregulation of related and unrelated H3K9 demethylase activities, whose targeted inhibition restored senescence, even in Braf inhibitor-resistant melanomas, evoked secondary immune effects and controlled tumor growth in vivo.

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Teaser

Yu et al. show that two different types of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9) demethylases, LSD1 and JMJD2C, disable oncogenic Ras- or Braf-induced senescence by enabling the expression of E2F target genes, which permits transformation. Inhibition of the H3K9 demethylases restores senescence and controls tumor growth.


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