scholarly journals KDM4B: A Nail for Every Hammer?

Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cailin Wilson ◽  
Adam J. Krieg

Epigenetic changes are well-established contributors to cancer progression and normal developmental processes. The reversible modification of histones plays a central role in regulating the nuclear processes of gene transcription, DNA replication, and DNA repair. The KDM4 family of Jumonj domain histone demethylases specifically target di- and tri-methylated lysine 9 on histone H3 (H3K9me3), removing a modification central to defining heterochromatin and gene repression. KDM4 enzymes are generally over-expressed in cancers, making them compelling targets for study and therapeutic inhibition. One of these family members, KDM4B, is especially interesting due to its regulation by multiple cellular stimuli, including DNA damage, steroid hormones, and hypoxia. In this review, we discuss what is known about the regulation of KDM4B in response to the cellular environment, and how this context-dependent expression may be translated into specific biological consequences in cancer and reproductive biology.

Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (11) ◽  
pp. 731-731
Author(s):  
Itsaso Hormaeche ◽  
Kim Rice ◽  
Joti Marango ◽  
Fabien Guidez ◽  
Arthur Zelent ◽  
...  

Abstract The promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger protein (PLZF) is a transcription factor fused to RARα in the t(11;17) translocation associated with retinoic acid resistant acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). As a result of this chromosomal abnormality, two oncogenic proteins are produced, PLZF-RARα and RARα-PLZF. Wild type PLZF is expressed in CD34+ progenitor cells and declines during differentiation. PLZF is a tumor suppressor that causes cell cycle arrest, downregulating genes such as cyclinA2 and c-myc. We previously showed that transcriptional repression by PLZF is mediated by the recruitment of histone deacetylases to target genes, this being critical for its ability to control growth and affect RAR target genes. We now show that PLZF alters the methylation state of histones in its target genes. A biotinylated form of PLZF co-purified in cells along with a histone methyl transferase (HMT) activity for native histones. Using mutant histone H3 tail peptides, we showed that this activity methylated histone H3 on lysine 9 (H3K9me). Tagged forms of PLZF as well as endogenous PLZF co-precipitated in vivo with G9a histone methyl transferase, an enzyme that can mono and dimethylate H3K9 in euchromatin subject to gene repression. The interaction of PLZF with G9a required the presence of the N-terminal BTB/POZ domain as well as a second, more C-terminal, repression domain of PLZF. Given the newly found role of active histone demethylation in gene control we also tested the interaction of PLZF with LSD1, an enzyme associated with gene repression that demethylates H3K4. As in the case of G9a, the interaction of PLZF with LSD1 required both repression domains, suggesting, that these proteins may be part of a multi-protein complex containing multiple contact points with PLZF. Expression of G9a or LSD1 augmented transcriptional repression mediated by PLZF on reporter genes, indicating a functional interaction between histone methylation modifiers and PLZF. To determine the ability of PLZF to affect chromatin methylation in vivo, a Gal4-PLZF fusion protein was expressed in cells containing a chromatin-embedded Gal4-tk-Luciferase reporter gene. In the presence of PLZF, a chromatin immunoprecipitation experiment showed an increase in H3K9 methylation of the target gene while H3K4 methylation decreased, consistent with the ability of PLZF to interact with LSD1 and G9a. Lastly we compared the ability of the histone modifying proteins to interact with the APL fusion proteins PLZF-RARα, PML-RARα and NPM-RARα. Co-precipitation experiments showed a robust interaction between PLZF-RARα and G9a and LSD1 while the PML-RARα and NPM-RARα fusions bound these proteins significantly less avidly. Collectively all these data indicate that specific histone methylation is an important mode of action of PLZF in gene repression. The retinoic acid resistance of t(11;17)-APL may be related to its ability to interact with HMTs and histone demethylases. Hence therapeutic targeting of HMTs and histone demethylases might be considered as a novel mode of therapy in APL and other hematological malignancies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (16) ◽  
pp. 3286-3298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongqi Ge ◽  
Devi Nair ◽  
Xiaoyan Guan ◽  
Neha Rastogi ◽  
Michael A. Freitas ◽  
...  

The best-characterized acetylation of newly synthesized histone H4 is the diacetylation of the NH2-terminal tail on lysines 5 and 12. Despite its evolutionary conservation, this pattern of modification has not been shown to be essential for either viability or chromatin assembly in any model organism. We demonstrate that mutations in histone H4 lysines 5 and 12 in yeast confer hypersensitivity to replication stress and DNA-damaging agents when combined with mutations in histone H4 lysine 91, which has also been found to be a site of acetylation on soluble histone H4. In addition, these mutations confer a dramatic decrease in cell viability when combined with mutations in histone H3 lysine 56. We also show that mutation of the sites of acetylation on newly synthesized histone H4 results in defects in the reassembly of chromatin structure that accompanies the repair of HO-mediated double-strand breaks. This defect is not due to a decrease in the level of histone H3 lysine 56 acetylation. Intriguingly, mutations that alter the sites of newly synthesized histone H4 acetylation display a marked decrease in levels of phosphorylated H2A (γ-H2AX) in chromatin surrounding the double-strand break. These results indicate that the sites of acetylation on newly synthesized histones H3 and H4 can function in nonoverlapping ways that are required for chromatin assembly, viability, and DNA damage response signaling.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-515
Author(s):  
Sandra Demaria ◽  
Claire Vanpouille-Box

Genomic instability is a hallmark of neoplastic transformation that leads to the accumulation of mutations, and generates a state of replicative stress in neoplastic cells associated with dysregulated DNA damage repair (DDR) responses. The importance of increasing mutations in driving cancer progression is well established, whereas relatively little attention has been devoted to the DNA displaced to the cytosol of cancer cells, a byproduct of genomic instability and of the ensuing DDR response. The presence of DNA in the cytosol promotes the activation of viral defense pathways in all cells, leading to activation of innate and adaptive immune responses. In fact, the improper accumulation of cytosolic DNA in normal cells is known to drive severe autoimmune pathology. Thus, cancer cells must evade cytoplasmic DNA detection pathways to avoid immune-mediated destruction. The main sensor for cytoplasmic DNA is the cyclic GMP–AMP synthase, cGAS. Upon activation by cytosolic DNA, cGAS catalyzes the formation of the second messenger cGAMP, which activates STING (stimulator of IFN genes), leading to the production of type I interferon (IFN-I). IFN-I is a critical effector of cell-mediated antiviral and antitumor immunity, and its production by cancer cells can be subverted by several mechanisms. However, the key upstream regulator of cytosolic DNA-mediated immune stimulation is the DNA exonuclease 3′-repair exonuclease 1 (TREX1). Here, we will discuss evidence in support of a role of TREX1 as an immune checkpoint that, when up-regulated, hinders the development of antitumor immune responses.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (suppl_6) ◽  
pp. vi151-vi152
Author(s):  
Quanhong Ma ◽  
Andrea Plunti ◽  
Amanda Saratsis ◽  
Rishi Lulla ◽  
Jason R Fangusaro ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengbin Wang ◽  
Ling Zhai ◽  
Jun Xu ◽  
Heui-Yun Joo ◽  
Sarah Jackson ◽  
...  

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2848
Author(s):  
Nicole A. Wilkinson ◽  
Katherine S. Mnuskin ◽  
Nicholas W. Ashton ◽  
Roger Woodgate

Many endogenous and exogenous factors can induce genomic instability in human cells, in the form of DNA damage and mutations, that predispose them to cancer development. Normal cells rely on DNA damage bypass pathways such as translesion synthesis (TLS) and template switching (TS) to replicate past lesions that might otherwise result in prolonged replication stress and lethal double-strand breaks (DSBs). However, due to the lower fidelity of the specialized polymerases involved in TLS, the activation and suppression of these pathways must be tightly regulated by post-translational modifications such as ubiquitination in order to limit the risk of mutagenesis. Many cancer cells rely on the deregulation of DNA damage bypass to promote carcinogenesis and tumor formation, often giving them heightened resistance to DNA damage from chemotherapeutic agents. In this review, we discuss the key functions of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins in regulating DNA damage bypass in human cells, and highlight ways in which these processes are both deregulated in cancer progression and might be targeted in cancer therapy.


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