Published OnlineFirst July 6, 2017; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-0826
Cancer Therapeutics, Targets, and Chemical Biology Research
Targeting Histone Demethylases in MYC-Driven Neuroblastomas with Ciclopirox Jun Yang1, Sandra Milasta2, Dongli Hu1, Alaa M. AlTahan1, Rodrigo B. Interiano1, Junfang Zhou1, Jesse Davidson1, Jonathan Low3, Wenwei Lin3, Ju Bao4, Pollyanna Goh5, Amit C. Nathwani5, Ruoning Wang6, Yingdi Wang7, Su Sien Ong3, Vincent A. Boyd3, Brandon Young3, Sourav Das3, Anang Shelat3, Yinan Wu4, Zhenmei Li4, Jie J. Zheng4, Ashutosh Mishra8, Yong Cheng9, Chunxu Qu10, Junmin Peng8, Douglas R. Green2, Stephen White4, R. Kiplin Guy3, Taosheng Chen3, and Andrew M. Davidoff1
Abstract
Histone lysine demethylases facilitate the activity of oncogenic ciclopirox inhibited Myc signaling in parallel with mitochondrial transcription factors, including possibly MYC. Here we show oxidative phosphorylation, resulting in suppression of neuroblas- that multiple histone demethylases influence the viability and toma cell viability and inhibition of tumor growth associated with poor prognosis of neuroblastoma cells, where MYC is often an induction of differentiation. Our findings provide new insights overexpressed. We also identified the approved small-molecule into epigenetic regulation of MYC function and suggest a novel antifungal agent ciclopirox as a novel pan-histone demethylase pharmacologic basis to target histone demethylases as an indirect inhibitor. Ciclopirox targeted several histone demethylases, MYC-targeting approach for cancer therapy. Cancer Res; 77(17); including KDM4B implicated in MYC function. Accordingly, 4626–38. 2017 AACR.
Introduction neuroblastoma patients have MYCN amplification (MNA; ref. 1). N-Myc has been clearly shown to be an oncogenic driver of Neuroblastoma, a malignancy of the sympathetic nervous neuroblastoma in transgenic mouse and zebrafish models system, is the most common extracranial solid tumor of child- (2, 3). Cancer genomic sequencing has revealed few genetic hood and accounts for 15% of all cancer-related deaths in chil- mutations in neuroblastoma (4), suggesting that epigenetic fac- dren. MYCN amplification is an important biologic variable that tors might be involved in tumorigenesis and disease progression, is a critical factor in defining high risk disease; about 20% of in addition to N-Myc activity. Myc is one of the most deregulated oncoprotein in various cancers. Unfortunately, directly targeting transcription factors such as Myc is technically challenging. There- 1Department of Surgery, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Ten- nessee. 2Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, fore, novel approaches need to be developed to block the Myc Memphis, Tennessee. 3Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics, St. pathway for cancer treatment. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. 4Department of Struc- Histone methylation is an epigenetic mark that is dynamically tural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. regulated by histone methyltransferases and demethylases. The 5 Department of Oncology, University College London Cancer Institute, London, most well-studied histone demethylases are histone lysine 6 United Kingdom. Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University School of demethylases (KDM) that are composed of two families. One Medicine, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Center for – a Childhood Cancer and Blood Disease, Columbus, Ohio. 7Yale Cardiovascular family is the JmjC domain containing KDMs that are -ketoglu- fl Research Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. 8Depart- tarate and Fe(II)-dependent while the other family is avin ment of Structural Biology, Department of Developmental Neurobiology and St. adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent KDMs (5, 6). KDMs play Jude Proteomics Facility, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, important roles in regulation of gene expression, cell cycle, and 9 Tennessee. Department of Hematology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, genomic integrity (7). Deregulation of KDMs occurs in many 10 Memphis, Tennessee. Department of Computational Biology, St. Jude Chil- diseases including cancer (8). For example, genetic alterations of dren's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. KDMs, such as mutation of KDM6A, occur in many types of Note: Supplementary data for this article are available at Cancer Research malignancies (8). In addition, oncogenic transcription factors Online (http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/). frequently hijack KDMs to facilitate their transcriptional activity Current address for J.J. Zheng: Stein Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmol- or to inhibit tumor suppressor expression. KDM1 has been shown ogy, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California. to enhance c-Myc activity (9) and to complex with the EWS/FLI-1 Corresponding Author: Jun Yang, Department of Surgery, St. Jude Children's oncoprotein to suppress TGFB1 transcription (10), while KDM5B Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105. Phone: 901- has been shown to help c-Myc repress CDKN1A expression (11). 595-5008; Fax: 901-595-6621; E-mail: [email protected] KDM4B interacts with the estrogen receptor in breast cancer (12), doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-0826 whereas KDM4C cooperates with JAK2 to regulate c-Myc expres- 2017 American Association for Cancer Research. sion in a subset of lymphomas (13).
4626 Cancer Res; 77(17) September 1, 2017
Downloaded from cancerres.aacrjournals.org on October 2, 2021. © 2017 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst July 6, 2017; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-0826
Ciclopirox Targets Histone Demethylases
We have recently shown that KDM4B interacts with N-Myc to purchased from Dharmacon. Reverse transfection of 20 nmol/L maintain low levels of the repressive transcription mark, siRNA in 96-well plate using RNAiMAX (Invitrogen) was per- H3K9me3/me2, in neuroblastoma, resulting in overexpression formed. We used nontargeting control #2 (NT2) as the negative of genes that promote tumor progression (14). Therefore, target- control. Three days after siRNA transfection, cell viability was ing histone demethylases may block the activities of oncogenic assessed using PrestoBlue (Invitrogen). The absorbance reading transcription factors and activate tumor suppressive pathways, for each gene was normalized to the control siRNA. The normal- thereby achieving therapeutic efficacy. However, despite increased ized value was then subtracted by 1, and was plotted using Prism understanding of the importance of KDMs in cancer, successful, program (target vs. control). If the value was less than 0.2 or specific KDM inhibitors for cancer therapeutics have not yet been greater than 0.2, we concluded the cell viability as reduced or developed. In this study, we evaluated all known histone increased, respectively. For validation of pooled siRNAs, we demethylases in the regulation of neuroblastoma and discovered chose two individual oligos against the selected targets. See a new pan-KDM inhibitor, ciclopirox, and assessed its antitumor oligo sequences in the Supplementary section. For shRNA knock- activity. down of KDM4B, we used sh814 that had the best knockdown efficiency (14). Materials and Methods Cell culture, reagents, neurosphere formation, cell viability Colony formation assay assay, and cell proliferation index After siRNA transfection, 17,000 BE(2)-C cells were plated in Human 293T, HS68, BE(2)-C, SK-N-AS, IMR-32, SK-N-SH, and each well in a 6-well plate in 2 mL of RPMI1640 medium in fi U2OS cell lines were purchased from the ATCC between 2012 and triplicates. After 6 days, colonies were xed in 4% formaldehyde 2014. NB1, NB7, NB8, NB15, NB-1691, and NB1643 cell lines for 20 minutes after being washed once with PBS. 0.1% Crystal fi were established at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Mem- violet was added onto xed cells and shaken for 1 hour. The phis, TN) and obtained from Peter Houghton (Greehey Chil- stained cells were washed with ddH2O and scanned. The number > dren's Cancer Research Institute, San Antonio, TX) and Jill Lathi in of single colony ( 20 cells/colony) per view was counted under 2003 and 2012, respectively. Nagai was a gift from Stephen Morris microscopy. Three different views per well for all triplicates were (Insight Genetics, Memphis, TN) in 2009. Cell lines were prop- randomly chosen and colony numbers were averaged. agated, expanded, and frozen immediately into numerous ali- quots after arrival. The cells revived from the frozen stock were Western blotting and immunofluorescence used within 10 to 15 passages not exceeding a period of 6 months. Western blot analysis was performed as described in ref. 14. See When we collected the data for the cell lines, which was done 2–4 antibodies in the Supplementary Data. years ago, we did not perform STR assay until August 2016 when For immunofluorescence detection of histone methyl marks, we started performing STR and mycoplasma monthly. All cell cells transfected with HA-KDM4B were treated with DMSO or lines were characterized by short tandem repeat (STR) analysis by 5 mmol/L ciclopirox for 24 hours. Cells were washed three times using Promega PowerPlex 16 HS System. PCR-based method was with PBS and fixed in 4.0% paraformaldehyde in PBS for 15 min- used for detection of Mycoplasma with LookOut Mycoplasma utes at room temperature. Cells were permeabilized for 30 min- PCR Detection Kit (Sigma) and JumpStart Taq DNA Polymerase utes using Triton X-100 (0.3%) in the presence of 10% goat serum. (Sigma). Neuroblastoma cell lines were cultured in RPMI medi- Primary antibodies with a dilution of 1:1,000 in PBS with 0.3% um while 293T and HS68 cells were cultured in DMEM, supple- Triton X-100 and 3% goat serum were added to cells for overnight mented with 10% FCS (HyClone, Thermo Scientific), 1% L- incubation. After three consecutive 5-minute washes with PBS, glutamine (MediaTech), 1% penicillin–streptomycin (Lonza). cells were incubated with secondary antibodies for 1 hour before HepaRG cell line was purchased from Thermo Fisher and cultured being washed with PBS and mounted in a mounting medium in Williams' Medium E with HepaRG Supplement. Neurospheres (DAKO) containing 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihy- were cultured under conditions described previously (15). Briefly, drochloride). Imaging of the cells was carried out using a Nikon BE(2)-C and SK-N-AS were plated on an ultra-low attachment immunofluorescence microscope. The intensity of immunofluo- dish at 1 105 cells/well in a 6-well plate. Human recombinant rescence was quantified by using ImageJ software. basic FGF and EGF (PeproTech) were added to the culture medi- um every 3 days. Cell viability was measured using Presto blue RNA and miRNA extraction and RT-PCR (Invitrogen) in a 96-well plate according to the manufacturer's RNA was extracted using the RNeasy Mini Kit from Qiagen instructions. Cell proliferation index was determined in a log- while miRNA was extracted using the miVana kit from Life phase proliferation period by dividing the viable cell number at Technologies. RT-PCR was performed using an Applied Biosys- 48 hours by the viable cell number at 24 hours. Ciclopirox and tems 7500 Real-Time PCR system. The results were analyzed using Holo-transferrin were purchased from Sigma. GST-KDM4B pro- DDCt methods. Fold differences calculated using the DDCt method tein was purchased from BPS Bioscience. Tb-anti-Histone are expressed as a range by incorporating the SD of the DDCt value H3K9me2 antibody and Alexa Fluor 488 streptavidin were pur- into the fold difference calculation according to the manufac- 1-21 chased from Invitrogen. H3K9me3-biotin [Histone H3 ( )-K9 turer's PCR guide instructions (Applied Biosystems). The PCR (Me3)- GGK(Biotin)] was obtained from AnaSpec. primer sequences were listed in Supplementary Table S2. siRNA Knockdown Affymetrix microarray analysis The custom siRNA library (4 siRNAs pooled together for each RNA was extracted from SK-N-AS, NB-1691, and BE(2)-C cells gene, see Supplementary Table S1) that targets genes encoding after 48 hours of treatment with 2.5 mmol/L ciclopirox. After JmjC domain–containing proteins and FAD-dependent KDM was quality control with the Agilent RNA analyzer, RNA was subjected
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Yang et al.
to hybridization using an Affymetrix HT HG-U133þ PM 16-Array dicarboxylic acid from PDB structure 4lxl. The entire structure Plate. Differential gene expression was analyzed using the Gene- was then subjected to 100 iterations of OPLS_2005 force-field– Pattern program while gene signature was analyzed using the based energy minimization to finally obtain an octahedral com- Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) program. Gene sets (3,402; plex with two coordinated waters. chemical and genetic perturbations) were downloaded from MSigDB. After including the MYCN signature, 3,403 gene sets Chromatin immunoprecipitation were used for GSEA comparison. The permutation parameter for Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays were per- GSEA analysis was 1,000. The collapsed dataset to gene symbol formed according to the manufacturer's protocol (Magna EZ- parameter was "true." The permutation type was "gene set." CHIP). Briefly, BE(2)-C cells were cross-linked with 1% parafor- maldehyde for 10 minutes and quenched for 5 minutes with TR-FRET assay 125 mmol/L of glycine. After sonication, cell lysates were spun In the individual wells of black 384-well low-volume assay down and 100 mL of supernatant was diluted to 500 mL for plates, titrations of ciclopirox, 100 mmol/L of ciclopirox (set as immunopreciptation. H3K9me3 antibodies (Millipore, 07-523) 100% inhibition), or DMSO (set as 0% inhibition) were incu- were used for immunopreciptation of the cross-linked DNA– bated with H3K9(me3)-biotin peptide (1 mmol/L) and GST- protein complexes. After serial washing, DNA-protein cross-links KDM4B protein (250 nmol/L) in 15-mL assay buffer with were reversed and DNA was extracted for PCR. 50 mmol/L Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), 50 mmol/L KCl, 10 mmol/L a m MgCl2, 1 mmol/L -ketoglutarate, 80 mol/L FeSO4, 2 mmol/L Oxygen consumption assay ascorbic acid, 0.01% BSA at room temperature for 30 minutes. The Respiration was measured in intact cells using the Seahorse final DMSO concentration was 1% for all assay wells. Detection XF24 analyzer (16). After 48-hour treatment with CPX or siRNA m mixture (5 L/well) of Tb-anti-Histone H3K9me2 antibody knockdown, cells were seeded in plates coated with poly-L-lysine. (8 nmol/L) and Alexa Fluor 488 streptavidin (80 nmol/L) in the After 5 hours, the cells were loaded into the machine to determine same assay buffer was then dispensed into individual assay wells. the oxygen consumption rate (OCR). Respiration was measured After 15-minute incubation, the TR-FRET signals (fluorescence sequentially after addition of oligomycin (0.5 mmol/L), FCCP emission ratio of 10,000 520 nm/490 nm) for each well in (1 mmol/L), and rotenone (0.5 mmol/L). After each injection, OCR individual assay plates were collected with a PHERAstar FS (BMG was measured for 3 minutes, the medium mixed, and again Labtech) using a 340-nm excitation filter, 100-ms delay time, and measured for 3 minutes. 200-ms integration time. The activities of ciclopirox at the indi- cated concentrations were normalized to that of DMSO wells Database mining (negative control, 0% inhibition) and that of 100 mmol/L of The Versteeg neuroblastoma dataset (GSE16476) at R2: Geno- ciclopirox (positive control, 100% inhibition) and fit into sig- mics Analysis and Visualization Platform (http://hgserver1.amc. moidal dose–response curves to derive IC values with GraphPad 50 nl/cgi-bin/r2/main.cgi) was used to correlate expression of MYCN Prism 7.00 (GraphPad Software, Inc.). and KDMs and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis.
fi High content method for H3K9me3 quanti cation Animal experiments For details, see details in Supplementary Data. All murine experiments were done in accordance with a pro- tocol approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Com- Molecular docking mittee of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The disseminated The KDM4B crystal structure was obtained from the RCSB PDB disease model was established as described previously (17). Cell repository (PDB accession code: 4LXL). The protein structure was suspension (0.1 mL; 1 106 cells) of NB-1691luc cells were prepared for docking using the Protein Preparation Wizard of injected into the lateral tail vein of SCID mice with a 25-G needle. Maestro. Water molecules having less than two hydrogen bonds One week later, pumps containing CPX were subcutaneously to non-water molecules were deleted. This retained a water implanted in the dorsum of tumor-bearing mice. The pumps molecule complexed with nickel (II). The protein structure was (model 1004) were purchased from Alzet, which delivers 0.11 protonated at pH 7.4. Finally, the structure was restrained min- mL/hour for 4 weeks and holds 100 mL in total. CPX pumps were imized using the OPLS_2005 forcefield with default parameters. prepared as follows: 18 mg of CPX was dissolved in 225 mL of 95% The cognate ligand pyridine-2,4-dicarboxylic acid formed the EtOH by vortexing. DMSO (750 mL) was added and vortexed. center of the docking box. A metal-coordination restraint was Then, 525 mL of sterile H2O was added and vortexed to have a final added at the nickel center so that docked ligands could participate concentration of 12 mg/mL. The CPX solution was filled in pumps in metal–ligand interactions. The tri-methylated histone 3 lysine 9 using sterile forceps inside a hood. The control mice received an portion of the complex was retained at the time of grid generation. alzet pump with vehicle. Tumor growth was monitored using an The CPX structure was prepared using the Ligand Preparation IVIS Imaging System 100 Series (Xenogen Corporation). Mice module of Maestro that generated a deprotonated state as the received a 150-mg/kg intraperitoneal injection of D-Luciferin dominant state. This state was docked into the KDM4B active site (Xenogen). Five minutes after substrate injection, the animals using the single precision scoring mode in Glide, with the metal were imaged. Acquired images were analyzed using Living Image coordination restraint in "on" mode. This generated a mono- Software version 2.50 (Xenogen). Subcutaneous xenografts were dentate chelated CPX. In keeping with the octahedral complex established in male CB-17 severe combined immunodeficient seen in mono-dentate chelation (cf.PDB structure with accession mice (Taconic), Tumor measurements were done weekly using code 5F37) in similar active sites, a water molecule was introduced handheld calipers, and volumes calculated as width p/6 d3 at the position of the carboxylate oxygen of pyridine-2,4- where d is the mean of two diameters taken at right angles.
4628 Cancer Res; 77(17) September 1, 2017 Cancer Research
Downloaded from cancerres.aacrjournals.org on October 2, 2021. © 2017 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst July 6, 2017; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-0826
Ciclopirox Targets Histone Demethylases
Subcutaneous xenografts were treated with 20 mg/kg of CPX via than 4 cell lines (cell viability value <