Contrasting requirements during disease evolution identify EZH2 as a therapeutic target in AML
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Volume
216
Pagination
966 - 981
Publisher
DOI
10.1084/jem.20181276
Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE
Issue
ISSN
0022-1007
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Epigenetic regulators, such as EZH2, are frequently mutated in cancer, and loss-of-function EZH2 mutations are common in
myeloid malignancies. We have examined the importance of cellular context for Ezh2 loss during the evolution of acute myeloid
leukemia (AML), where we observed stage-specific and diametrically opposite functions for Ezh2 at the early and late stages
of disease. During disease maintenance, WT Ezh2 exerts an oncogenic function that may be therapeutically targeted. In
contrast, Ezh2 acts as a tumor suppressor during AML induction. Transcriptional analysis explains this apparent paradox,
demonstrating that loss of Ezh2 derepresses different expression programs during disease induction and maintenance.
During disease induction, Ezh2 loss derepresses a subset of bivalent promoters that resolve toward gene activation, inducing a
feto-oncogenic program that includes genes such as Plag1, whose overexpression phenocopies Ezh2 loss to accelerate AML
induction in mouse models. Our data highlight the importance of cellular context and disease phase for the function of Ezh2
and its potential therapeutic implications.
Authors
Basheer, F; Giotopoulos, G; Meduri, E; Yun, H; Mazan, M; Sasca, D; Gallipoli, P; Marando, L; Gozdecka, M; Asby, RCollections
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