The incidence of malignant melanoma has dramatically increased in recent years thus requiring the need for improved therapeutic strategies. In our efforts to design selective histone deactylase inhibitors (HDACI), we discovered that the aryl urea 1 is a modestly potent yet non-selective inhibitor. Structure activity relationship studies revealed that adding substituents to the nitrogen atom of the urea so as to generate compounds bearing a branched linker group results in increased potency and selectivity for HDAC6. Compound 5g shows low nanomolar inhibitory potency against HDAC6 and a selectivity of ~600-fold relative to the inhibition of HDAC1. These HDACIs were evaluated for their ability to inhibit the growth of B16 melanoma cells with the most potent and selective HDAC6I being found to decrease tumor cell growth. To the best of our knowledge, this work constitutes the first report of HDAC6 selective inhibitors that possess antiproliferative effects against melanoma cells.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs), originally described as histone modifiers, have more recently been demonstrated to target a variety of other proteins unrelated to the chromatin environment. In this context, our present work demonstrates that the pharmacological or genetic abrogation of HDAC6 in primary melanoma samples and cell lines, down-regulates the expression of PD-L1, an important co-stimulatory molecule expressed in cancer cells, which activates the inhibitory regulatory pathway PD-1 in T-cells. Our data suggests that this novel mechanism of PD-L1 regulation is mainly mediated by the influence of HDAC6 over the recruitment and activation of STAT3. Additionally, we observed that selective HDAC6 inhibitors impairs tumor growth and reduce the in vivo expression of several inhibitory checkpoint molecules and other regulatory pathways involved in immunosurveillance. Most importantly, these results provide a key pre-clinical rationale and justification to further study isotype selective HDAC6 inhibitors as potential immuno-modulatory agents in cancer. ª 2015 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. IntroductionIn spite of recent progress made in understanding the pathobiology, genetics, and immunology of melanoma, the outcome for patients with advanced-stage disease remains poor with a median survival ranging from 8 to 16 months and an overall survival (OS) at 5 years of less than 10% (Nikolaou and Stratigos, 2014

Lack or loss of tumor antigenicity represents one of the key mechanisms of immune escape and resistance to T cell–based immunotherapies. Evidence suggests that activation of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling in tumor cells can augment their antigenicity by triggering a type I IFN-mediated sequence of autocrine and paracrine events. Although suppression of this pathway in melanoma and other tumor types has been consistently reported, the mechanistic basis remains unclear. In this study, we asked whether this suppression is, in part, epigenetically regulated and whether it is indeed a driver of melanoma resistance to T cell–based immunotherapies. Using genome-wide DNA methylation profiling, we show that promoter hypermethylation of cGAS and STING genes mediates their coordinated transcriptional silencing and contributes to the widespread impairment of the STING signaling function in clinically-relevant human melanomas and melanoma cell lines. This suppression is reversible through pharmacologic inhibition of DNA methylation, which can reinstate functional STING signaling in at least half of the examined cell lines. Using a series of T cell recognition assays with HLA-matched human melanoma tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), we further show that demethylation-mediated restoration of STING signaling in STING-defective melanoma cell lines can improve their antigenicity through the up-regulation of MHC class I molecules and thereby enhance their recognition and killing by cytotoxic T cells. These findings not only elucidate the contribution of epigenetic processes and specifically DNA methylation in melanoma-intrinsic STING signaling impairment but also highlight their functional significance in mediating tumor-immune evasion and resistance to T cell–based immunotherapies.

Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) are critical in T-cell activation and in the induction of T-cell tolerance. Epigenetic modifications of specific genes in the APC play a key role in this process, and among them, histone deacetylases (HDACs) have emerged as key participants. HDAC6, one of the members of this family of enzymes, has been shown to be involved in regulation of inflammatory and immune responses. Here we show for the first time, that genetic or pharmacologic disruption of HDAC6 in macrophages and dendritic cells resulted in diminished production of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10, and induction of inflammatory APCs that effectively activate antigen-specific naïve T-cells and restore the responsiveness of anergic CD4+ T-cells. Mechanistically, we have found that HDAC6 forms a previously unknown molecular complex with STAT3, association that was detected in both the cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments of the APC. By using HDAC6 recombinant mutants we identified the domain comprising aminoacids 503-840 as being required for HDAC6 interaction with STAT3. Furthermore, by re-chromatin immunoprecipitation we confirmed that HDAC6 and STAT3 are both recruited to the same DNA sequence within the Il10 gene promoter. Of note, disruption of this complex by knocking down HDAC6 resulted in decreased STAT3 phosphorylation -but no changes in STAT3 acetylation- as well as diminished recruitment of STAT3 to the Il10 gene promoter region. The additional demonstration that a selective HDAC6 inhibitor disrupts this STAT3/IL-10 tolerogenic axis points to HDAC6 as a novel molecular target in APCs to overcome immune tolerance and tips the balance towards T-cell immunity.

Objectives: Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer, and its incidence has been increasing faster than any other cancer. Although immunogenic, melanoma is not effectively cleared by host immunity. In this study, we investigate the therapeutic, anti-melanoma potential of the histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) Panobinostat (LBH589) by assessing both its cytotoxic effects on melanoma cells as well as enhancement of immune recognition of melanoma. Methods: Utilizing murine and human melanoma cell lines, we analyze the effects of LBH589 on proliferation and survival. Additionally, we analyze expression of several immunologically relevant surface markers and melanoma differentiation antigens, and the ability of LBH589 treated melanoma to activate antigen specific T-cells. Finally, we assess the in vivo effects LBH589 in a mouse melanoma model. Results: Low nanomolar concentrations of LBH589 inhibit the growth of all melanoma cell lines tested, but not normal melanocytes. This inhibition is characterized by increased apoptosis as well as a G1 cell cycle arrest. In addition, LBH589 augments the expression of MHC and co-stimulatory molecules on melanoma cells leading to an increased ability to activate antigen specific T-cells. Treatment also increases expression of melanoma differentiation antigens. In vivo, LBH589 treatment of melanoma-bearing mice results in a significant increase in survival. However, in immunodeficient mice, the therapeutic effect of LBH589 is lost. Conclusions: Taken together, LBH589 exerts a dual effect upon melanoma cells by affecting not only growth/survival but also by increasing melanoma immunogenicity. These effects provide the framework for future evaluation of this HDAC inhibitor in melanoma treatment.