EZH2 inhibitor Tazemetostat synergizes with JQ-1 in esophageal cancer by inhibiting c-Myc signaling pathway.

EZH2, a highly conserved histone methyltransferase, plays an essential role in tumorigenesis and development. The inhibitor of EZH2 tazemetostat has been approved to treat metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma and recurrent or refractory follicular lymphoma. However, the effect of tazemetostat alone or in combination with other drugs in esophageal cancer has not been reported. In this study, we found that EZH2 was highly expressed in esophageal cancer at both mRNA and protein levels through transcriptomic and proteomic analyses. Furthermore, the results of CCK8, colony formation, cell cycle and cell apoptosis assays revealed that tazemetostat exerted an antitumour effect on esophageal cancer cells. Mechanistically, RNA-sequencing analysis of the tazemetostat-treated cells and vehicle-treated ones suggested that tazemetostat mainly inhibited the c-Myc signaling pathway and its targets, which was validated by western blotting. JQ-1, an inhibitor of bromodomain 4, was proven to attenuate c-Myc signaling in tumors. Thus, a therapeutic strategy based on tazemetostat in combination with JQ-1 is promising. The results demonstrated that tazemetostat and JQ-1 had a synergistic effect in vitro and in vivo for esophageal cancer.

CMTR1 promotes colorectal cancer cell growth and immune evasion by transcriptionally regulating STAT3.

CMTR1, also called IFN-stimulated gene 95 kDa protein (ISG95), is elevated by viral infection in a variety of cells. However, the functions of CMTR1 in colorectal cancer (CRC), especially its roles in tumorigenesis and immune regulation, remain unclear. Here, we first identified CMTR1 as a novel oncogene in colorectal cancer. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database exploration and human tissue microarray (TMA) analysis, we found that CMTR1 expression was markedly higher in CRC tissues than in adjacent normal tissues. High CMTR1 expression was correlated with poor prognosis in CRC patients. Knockdown (KD) of CMTR1 significantly suppressed cell proliferation and tumorigenicity both in vitro and in vivo, whereas overexpression of CMTR1 resulted in the opposite effects. KEGG pathway analysis revealed differential enrichment in the JAK/STAT signaling pathway in colorectal cancer cells with CMTR1 KD. Mechanistically, suppression of CMTR1 expression inhibited RNAPII recruitment to the transcription start site (TSS) of STAT3 and suppressed STAT3 expression and activation. Furthermore, the efficacy of PD1 blockade immunotherapy was prominently enhanced in the presence of CMTR1 KD via increased infiltration of CD8 + T cells into the tumor microenvironment. Overall, it appears that CMTR1 plays a key role in regulating tumor cell proliferation and antitumor immunity.

A Tumor-suppressive Molecular Axis EP300/circRERE/miR-6837-3p/MAVS Activates Type I IFN Pathway and Antitumor Immunity to Suppress Colorectal Cancer.

PURPOSE: The oncogenic role of circular RNAs (circRNA) has been well studied in cancers including colorectal cancer. However, tumor-suppressive circRNAs and the mechanism through which they exert their antitumor effects remain largely unknown. We aim to find out the critical tumor-suppressive circRNAs and their possibility to serve as gene therapy targets. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: circRNA sequencing, gain-of-function and loss-of-function experiments, and transcriptomic analysis were performed to find tumor-suppressive and antitumor immunity effects of circRERE. Molecular biology experiments were conducted for mechanism exploration. Finally, we conducted adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver circRERE (circRERE-AAV) and evaluated circRERE-AAV alone and in combination with anti-PD-1 antibody in C57BL/6J mice bearing subcutaneous MC38 tumors. RESULTS: circRERE is lowly expressed in colorectal cancer. Overexpression of circRERE inhibits the malignant behaviors of colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo, while knockdown exhibits the opposite effects. The expression of circRERE is regulated by EP300, a histone acetyltransferase downregulated in colorectal cancer as well. Mechanistically, circRERE acts as a competitive endogenous RNA to sponge miR-6837-3p to upregulate MAVS expression, thereby activating type I IFN signaling and promoting antitumor immunity. Delivery of circRERE-AAV elicits significant antitumor effects, and combination treatment with circRERE-AAV and anti-PD-1 antibody exhibits synergistic effects on tumor growth in preclinical models of colorectal cancer. CONCLUSIONS: These results uncover modulatory axis constituting of EP300/circRERE/miR-6837-3p/MAVS and its essential roles in antitumor immunity, and demonstrate that circRERE-AAV might represent a new therapeutic avenue to prime immune responses and boost the effects of immunotherapy in clinic.