Disrupting the Interaction of BRD4 with Diacetylated Twist Suppresses Tumorigenesis in Basal-like Breast Cancer

Aire controls immunologic tolerance by inducing a battery of thymic transcripts encoding proteins characteristic of peripheral tissues. Its unusually broad effect is achieved by releasing RNA polymerase II paused just downstream of transcriptional start sites. We explored Aire's collaboration with the bromodomaincontaining protein, Brd4, uncovering an astonishing correspondence between those genes induced by Aire and those inhibited by a small-molecule bromodomain blocker. Aire:Brd4 binding depended on an orchestrated series of posttranslational modifications within Aire's caspase activation and recruitment domain. This interaction attracted P-TEFb, thereby mobilizing downstream transcriptional elongation and splicing machineries. Aire:Brd4 association was critical for tolerance induction, and its disruption could account for certain point mutations that provoke human autoimmune disease. Our findings evoke the possibility of unanticipated immunologic mechanisms subtending the potent antitumor effects of bromodomain blockers.

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 82%

Brd4 bridges the transcriptional regulators, Aire and P-TEFb, to promote elongation of peripheral-tissue antigen transcripts in thymic stromal cells

Yoshida

Bansal

Schaefer

et al. 2015

“…This suggests that disruption of BRD4's interaction with transcription and elongation factors (e.g., Polymerase II, P-TEFb, Mediator, Activator) may be part of the mechanism by which I-BET151 causes HOTAIR repression. Recently BRD4 has been found to interact with the acetylated transcription factor TWIST1 (diacetylated by Tip60) in the promoter of WNT5A, and pharmacological inhibition of their interaction reduces invasion and tumorigenicity of breast cancer cells (58).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bromodomain protein BRD4 controls HOTAIR, a long noncoding RNA essential for glioblastoma proliferation

Pastori

Kapranov

Penas

et al. 2015

178

146

Bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) domain proteins have emerged as promising therapeutic targets in glioblastoma and many other cancers. Small molecule inhibitors of BET bromodomain proteins reduce expression of several oncogenes required for Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) progression. However, the mechanism through which BET protein inhibition reduces GBM growth is not completely understood. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important epigenetic regulators with critical roles in cancer initiation and malignant progression, but mechanistic insight into their expression and regulation by BET bromodomain inhibitors remains elusive. In this study, we used Helicos single molecule sequencing to comprehensively profile lncRNAs differentially expressed in GBM, and we identified a subset of GBM-specific lncRNAs whose expression is regulated by BET proteins. Treatment of GBM cells with the BET bromdomain inhibitor I-BET151 reduced levels of the tumorpromoting lncRNA HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) and restored the expression of several other GBM down-regulated lncRNAs. Conversely, overexpression of HOTAIR in conjunction with I-BET151 treatment abrogates the antiproliferative activity of the BET bromodomain inhibitor. Moreover, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis demonstrated binding of Bromodomain Containing 4 (BRD4) to the HOTAIR promoter, suggesting that BET proteins can directly regulate lncRNA expression. Our data unravel a previously unappreciated mechanism through which BET proteins control tumor growth of glioblastoma cells and suggest that modulation of lncRNA networks may, in part, mediate the antiproliferative effects of many epigenetic inhibitors currently in clinical trials for cancer and other diseases.glioblastoma | long noncoding RNAs | epigenetics | BRD4 | I-BET151

“…The BET protein BRD4 is found enriched at MYC and other oncogenes superenhancer and promoter regions, and transcriptional silencing of MYC coincides with the release of BET proteins from its locus, indicating that BET proteins can regulate MYC expression (10, 11). BRD4 itself is linked to multiple human malignancies: It forms chromosomal translocations in squamous carcinoma and NUT midline carcinoma, plays a role in progression of acute myeloid leukemia, and is up-regulated in breast cancer (7,(12)(13)(14). BRD4 contains a pair of bromodomains (BDs) that belong to the family of evolutionarily conserved structural modules that recognize acetyllysine PTMs in histones and nonhistone proteins (15, 16).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dual-activity PI3K–BRD4 inhibitor for the orthogonal inhibition of MYC to block tumor growth and metastasis

Andrews

Singh

Joshi

et al. 2017

112

MYC is a major cancer driver but is documented to be a difficult therapeutic target itself. Here, we report on the biological activity, the structural basis, and therapeutic effects of the family of multitargeted compounds that simultaneously disrupt functions of two critical MYC-mediating factors through inhibiting the acetyllysine binding of BRD4 and the kinase activity of PI3K. We show that the dual-action inhibitor impairs PI3K/BRD4 signaling in vitro and in vivo and affords maximal MYC down-regulation. The concomitant inhibition of PI3K and BRD4 blocks MYC expression and activation, promotes MYC degradation, and markedly inhibits cancer cell growth and metastasis. Collectively, our findings suggest that the dualactivity inhibitor represents a highly promising lead compound for the development of novel anticancer therapeutics.T he MYC gene is frequently altered in human cancer. It encodes a transcription factor that binds to and regulates nearly 10-15% of genes in the human genome (1-3). The MYC targets mediate fundamental biological processes necessary for cell survival and general well-being, ranging from gene-expression and cell-cycle programs to cell proliferation and response to DNA damage, thereby establishing MYC as a global transcriptional regulator. MYC is overexpressed or amplified in many human cancers, which results in genome instability and deregulation of an array of signaling pathways responsible for malignant transformation. MYC expression level as well as synthesis, stability, and posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of the MYC protein are tightly regulated via several pathways, including PI3K-AKTmTOR and RAS-MAPK (4). Particularly, PI3K activation blocks MYC degradation through inhibiting GSK3β-dependent MYC phosphorylation at threonine 58, elevating MYC levels and inducing MYC-dependent oncogenic programs (4, 5).MYC gene expression has recently been linked to the activity of the BET (bromodomains and extraterminal domain) family of transcriptional coactivators (6-9). The BET protein BRD4 is found enriched at MYC and other oncogenes superenhancer and promoter regions, and transcriptional silencing of MYC coincides with the release of BET proteins from its locus, indicating that BET proteins can regulate MYC expression (10, 11). BRD4 itself is linked to multiple human malignancies: It forms chromosomal translocations in squamous carcinoma and NUT midline carcinoma, plays a role in progression of acute myeloid leukemia, and is up-regulated in breast cancer (7,(12)(13)(14). BRD4 contains a pair of bromodomains (BDs) that belong to the family of evolutionarily conserved structural modules that recognize acetyllysine PTMs in histones and nonhistone proteins (15, 16). Interestingly, BD1 and BD2 of BRD4 have distinct acetyllysine binding functions (17). BD1 binds to diacetylated histones, including histone H4 diacetylated at lysine 5 and lysine 8 (H4K5acK8ac), and this interaction helps to recruit or stabilize BRD4-containing transcription complexes at target gene promoters and enhancers. The se...