Articles

< Previous         Next >  
Elevating H3K27me3 level sensitizes colorectal cancer to oxaliplatin
Qi Wang 1,† , Xi Chen 1,† , Yuhang Jiang 1,† , Sanhong Liu 1,2,3 , Hanshao Liu 1,2 , Xiaohua Sun1, Haohao Zhang1, Zhi Liu1, Yu Tao1, Cuifeng Li1, Yiming Hu1, Dandan Liu1, Deji Ye1, Yongzhong Liu4, Mingliang Wang 5,* , and Xiaoren Zhang 1,2,*
1 The Key Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine & Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200025, 227 Chongqing South Road, Shanghai, China
2 Affiliated Cancer Hospital & Institute, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510000, 195 Dongfeng West Road, Guangzhou, China
3 Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, 393 Huaxia Middle Road, Shanghai, China
4 State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200032, Ruijin 2nd Road, Shanghai, China
5 Department of General Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, Ruijin 2nd Road, Shanghai, China
These authors contributed equally to this work.
*Correspondence to:Xiaoren Zhang, E-mail: xrzhang@sibs.ac.cn; Mingliang Wang, E-mail: mingliang-99@hotmail.com
J Mol Cell Biol, Volume 12, Issue 2, February 2020, 125-137,  https://doi.org/10.1093/jmcb/mjz032
Keyword: H3K27 trimethylation, colorectal cancer, chemoresistance, NOTCH signaling
Histone methylation is a context-dependent modification that regulates gene expression, and the trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) usually induces gene silencing. Overcoming colorectal cancer (CRC) chemoresistance is currently a huge challenge, but the relationship between H3K27me3 modification and chemoresistance remains largely unclear. Here, we found that H3K27me3 levels positively correlated with the metastasis-free survival of CRC patients and a low H3K27me3 level predicted a poor outcome upon chemotherapeutic drug treatment. Oxaliplatin stimulation significantly induced the expression of H3K27 lysine demethylase 6A/6B (KDM6A/6B), thus decreasing the level of H3K27me3 in CRC cells. Elevation of H3K27me3 level through KDM6A/6B depletion or GSK-J4 (a KDM6A/6B inhibitor) treatment significantly enhanced oxaliplatin-induced apoptosis. Conversely, when inhibiting the expression of H3K27me3 by EPZ-6438, an inhibitor of the histone methyltransferase EZH2, the proportion of apoptotic cells remarkably decreased. In addition, the combination of GSK-J4 and oxaliplatin significantly inhibited tumor growth in an oxaliplatin-resistant patient-derived xenograft model. Importantly, we revealed that oxaliplatin treatment dramatically induced NOTCH2 expression, which was caused by downregulation of H3K27me3 level on the NOTCH2 transcription initiation site. Thus, the activated NOTCH signaling promoted the expression of stemness-related genes, which resulted in oxaliplatin resistance. Furthermore, oxaliplatin-induced NOTCH signaling could be interrupted by GSK-J4 treatment. Collectively, our findings suggest that elevating H3K27me3 level can improve drug sensitivity in CRC patients.