Constitutive heterochromatin is typically defined by high levels of DNA methylation and H3 lysine 9 trimethylation (H3K9Me3), whereas facultative heterochromatin displays DNA hypomethylation and high H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27Me3). The two chromatin types generally do not coexist at the same loci, suggesting mutual exclusivity. During development or in cancer, pericentromeric regions can adopt either epigenetic state, but the switching mechanism is unknown. We used a quantitative locus purification method to characterize changes in pericentromeric chromatin-associated proteins in mouse embryonic stem cells deficient for either the methyltransferases required for DNA methylation or H3K9Me3. DNA methylation controls heterochromatin architecture and inhibits Polycomb recruitment. BEND3, a protein enriched on pericentromeric chromatin in the absence of DNA methylation or H3K9Me3, allows Polycomb recruitment and H3K27Me3, resulting in a redundant pathway to generate repressive chromatin. This suggests that BEND3 is a key factor in mediating a switch from constitutive to facultative heterochromatin.
The PROTAC (proteolysis-targeting chimera) ARV-825 recruits bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) proteins to the E3 ubiquitin ligase cereblon, leading to degradation of BET proteins, including BRD4. Whereas the BET-protein inhibitor (BETi) OTX015 caused accumulation of BRD4, treatment with equimolar concentrations of ARV-825 caused sustained and profound depletion (>90%) of BRD4 and induced significantly more apoptosis in cultured and patient-derived (PD) CD34+ post-MPN sAML cells, while relatively sparing the CD34+ normal hematopoietic progenitor cells. RNA-Seq, Reversed Phase Protein Array and mass cytometry ‘CyTOF’ analyses demonstrated that ARV-825 caused greater perturbations in mRNA and protein expressions than OTX015 in sAML cells. Specifically, compared to OTX015, ARV-825 treatment caused more robust and sustained depletion of c-Myc, CDK4/6, JAK2, pSTAT3/5, PIM1 and Bcl-xL, while increasing the levels of p21 and p27. Compared to OTX015, PROTAC ARV-771 treatment caused greater reduction in leukemia burden and further improved survival of NSG mice engrafted with luciferase-expressing HEL92.1.7 cells. Co-treatment with ARV-825 and JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib was synergistically lethal against the established and PD-CD34+ sAML cells. Notably, ARV-825 induced high levels of apoptosis in the in vitro generated ruxolitinib-persister or ruxolitinib-resistant sAML cells. These findings strongly support the in vivo testing of the BRD4-PROTAC based combinations against post-MPN sAML.
Bromodomain extraterminal protein (BETP) inhibitors transcriptionally repress oncoproteins and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) target genes that undermines the growth and survival of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) cells. However, BET bromodomain inhibitor (BETi) treatment causes accumulation of BETPs, associated with reversible binding and incomplete inhibition of BRD4 that potentially compromises the activity of BETi in MCL cells. Unlike BETi, BET-PROTACs (proteolysis-targeting chimera) ARV-825 and ARV-771 (Arvinas, Inc.) recruit and utilize an E3-ubiquitin ligase to effectively degrade BETPs in MCL cells. BET-PROTACs induce more apoptosis than BETi of MCL cells, including those resistant to ibrutinib. BET-PROTAC treatment induced more perturbations in the mRNA and protein expressions than BETi, with depletion of c-Myc, CDK4, cyclin D1 and the NF-κB transcriptional targets Bcl-xL, XIAP and BTK, while inducing the levels of HEXIM1, NOXA and CDKN1A/p21. Treatment with ARV-771, which possesses superior pharmacological properties compared with ARV-825, inhibited the in vivo growth and induced greater survival improvement than the BETi OTX015 of immune-depleted mice engrafted with MCL cells. Cotreatment of ARV-771 with ibrutinib or the BCL2 antagonist venetoclax or CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib synergistically induced apoptosis of MCL cells. These studies highlight promising and superior preclinical activity of BET-PROTAC than BETi, requiring further in vivo evaluation of BET-PROTAC as a therapy for ibrutinib-sensitive or -resistant MCL.
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