The maintenance cytosine DNA methyltransferase DNMT1 and de novo methyltransferase DNMT3b cooperate to establish aberrant DNA methylation and chromatin complexes to repress gene transcription during cancer development. The expression of DNMT3b was constitutively increased 5-20-fold in hTERT/CDK4-immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) before treatment with low doses of tobacco carcinogens. Overexpression of DNMT3b increased and accelerated carcinogen-induced transformation. Genome-wide profiling of transformed HBECs identified 143 DNMT3b-target genes, many of which were transcriptionally regulated by the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) complex and silenced through aberrant methylation in non-small-cell lung cancer cell lines. Two genes studied in detail, MAL and OLIG2, were silenced during transformation, initially through enrichment for H3K27me3 and H3K9me2, commonly methylated in lung cancer, and exert tumor suppressor effects in vivo through modulating cancer-related pathways. Re-expression of MAL and OLIG2 to physiological levels dramatically reduced the growth of lung tumor xenografts. Our results identify a key role for DNMT3b in the earliest stages of initiation and provide a comprehensive catalog of genes targeted for silencing by this methyltransferase in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: High radon exposure is a risk factor for squamous cell carcinoma, a major lung cancer histology observed in former uranium miners. Radon exposure can cause oxidative stress, leading to pulmonary inflammation. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pro-carcinogenic inflammatory cytokine that plays a pivotal role in lung cancer development. Objectives: We assessed whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL6 promoter are associated with lung cancer in former uranium miners with high occupational exposure to radon gas. Methods: Genetic associations were assessed in a case–control study of former uranium miners (242 cases and 336 controls). A replication study was performed using data from the Gene Environment Association Studies (GENEVA) Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) of Lung Cancer and Smoking. Functional relevance of the SNPs was characterized using in vitro approaches. Results: We found that rs1800797 was associated with squamous cell carcinoma in miners and with a shorter time between the midpoint of the period of substantial exposure and diagnosis among the cases. Furthermore, rs1800797 was also associated with lung cancer among never smokers in the GENEVA dataset. Functional studies identified that the risk allele was associated with increased basal IL-6 mRNA level and greater promoter activity. Furthermore, fibroblasts with the risk allele showed greater induction of IL-6 secretion by hydrogen peroxide or benzo[a]pyrene diolepoxide treatments. Conclusions: An IL6 promoter variant was associated with lung cancer in uranium miners and never smokers in two external study populations. The associations are strongly supported by the functional relevance that the IL6 promoter SNP affects basal expression and carcinogen-induced IL-6 secretion. Citation: Leng S, Thomas CL, Snider AM, Picchi MA, Chen W, Willis DG, Carr TG, Krzeminski J, Desai D, Shantu A, Lin Y, Jacobson MR, Belinsky SA. 2016. Radon exposure, IL-6 promoter variants, and lung squamous cell carcinoma in former uranium miners. Environ Health Perspect 124:445–451; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409437

Introduction GATA2 was recently described as a critical survival factor and therapeutic target for KRAS mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, whether this role is affected by epigenetic repression of GATA2 in lung cancer is unclear. Methods GATA2 expression and promoter CpG island methylation were evaluated using human and mouse NSCLC cell lines and tumor-normal pairs. In vitro assays were used to study GATA2 repression on cell survival and during tobacco carcinogen-induced transformation. Results GATA2 expression in KRAS wild-type (n=15) and mutant (n=10) NSCLC cell lines and primary lung tumors (n=24) was significantly lower, 1.3–33.6-fold (p=2.2×10−9), compared to corresponding normal lung. GATA2 promoter was unmethylated in normal lung (0/10) but frequently methylated in lung tumors (96%, 159/165) and NSCLC cell lines (97%, 30/31). This highly prevalent aberrant methylation was independently validated using TCGA data for 369 NSCLC tumor-normal pairs. In vitro studies using an established carcinogen-induced pre-malignancy model revealed that GATA2 expression was initially repressed by chromatin remodeling followed by cytosine methylation during transformation. Similarly, expression of Gata2 in NNK-induced mouse lung tumors (n=6) and cell lines (n=5) was 5-fold and 100-fold lower, respectively, than normal mouse lung. Finally, siRNA-mediated knockdown of GATA2 in KRAS mutant [human (n=4) and murine (n=5)] and wild-type [human (n=4)] NSCLC cell lines showed that further reduction of expression (up to 95%) does not induce cell death. Conclusion GATA2 is epigenetically repressed in human and mouse lung tumors and its further inhibition is not a valid therapeutic strategy for KRAS mutant lung cancer.

No abstract