Histone deacetylase 8 inhibition suppresses mantle cell lymphoma viability while preserving natural killer cell function.

Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) is a non-Hodgkin lymphoma with a median survival rate of five years. Standard treatment with high-dose chemotherapy plus rituximab (anti-CD20 antibody) has extended overall survival although, the disease remains incurable. Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are a family of enzymes that regulate multiple proteins and cellular pathways through post-translational modification. Broad spectrum HDAC inhibitors have shown some therapeutic promise, inducing cell cycle inhibition and apoptosis in leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, the therapeutic effects of these broad-spectrum HDAC inhibitors can detrimentally dampen Natural Killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity, reduce NK viability, and downregulate activation receptors important for NK mediated anti-tumor responses. Impairment of NK function in MCL patients during therapy potentially limits therapeutic activity of rituximab. Thus, there is an unmet need to decipher specific roles of individual HDACs in order to preserve and/or enhance NK function, while, directly impairing MCL viability. We investigated the impact of HDAC8 in MCL cell lines. Inhibition or genetic loss of HDAC8 caused MCL cells to undergo apoptosis. In contrast, exposure of primary human NK cells to an HDAC8 inhibitor does not alter viability, receptor expression, or antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). However, an increase in effector cytokine interferon-gamma (IFNγ) producing NK cells was observed in response to HDAC8 inhibition. Taken together these data suggest that selective HDAC8 inhibitors may simultaneously preserve NK functional activity, while impairing MCL tumor growth, establishing a rationale for future clinical evaluation.

Data supporting the functional role of Eleven-nineteen Lysine-rich Leukemia 3 (ELL3) in B cell lymphoma cell line cells.

The data presented here are related to the research article entitled "Selective expression of the transcription elongation factor ELL3 in B cells prior to ELL2 drives proliferation and survival" (Alexander et al., 2017) [1]. The cited research article characterizes Eleven-nineteen Lysine-rich Leukemia 3 (ELL3) expression in the B cell compartment and functional dependence in B lymphoma cell lines. This data report describes the mRNA expression pattern in a panel of cell lines representing the B cell compartment, supplementing the protein expression data presented in the associated research report. In addition, a reanalysis is presented of publicly available mRNA expression data from primary murine B cells to reveal dynamic regulation of the ELL family members post LPS stimulation (Barwick et al., 2016) [2]. The effect of ELL3 depletion on cell morphology, latent Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) lytic replication and differentiation markers in a Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cell line cells are presented.

Selective expression of the transcription elongation factor ELL3 in B cells prior to ELL2 drives proliferation and survival.

B cell activation is dependent on a large increase in transcriptional output followed by focused expression on secreted immunoglobulin as the cell transitions to an antibody producing plasma cell. The rapid transcriptional induction is facilitated by the release of poised RNA pol II into productive elongation through assembly of the super elongation complex (SEC). We report that a SEC component, the Eleven -nineteen Lysine-rich leukemia (ELL) family member 3 (ELL3) is dynamically up-regulated in mature and activated human B cells followed by suppression as B cells transition to plasma cells in part mediated by the transcription repressor PRDM1. Burkitt's lymphoma and a sub-set of Diffuse Large B cell lymphoma cell lines abundantly express ELL3. Depletion of ELL3 in the germinal center derived lymphomas results in severe disruption of DNA replication and cell division along with increased DNA damage and cell death. This restricted utilization and survival dependence reveal a key step in B cell activation and indicate a potential therapeutic target against B cell lymphoma's with a germinal center origin.

Proteome-wide Profiling of Clinical PARP Inhibitors Reveals Compound-Specific Secondary Targets.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPi) are a promising class of targeted cancer drugs, but their individual target profiles beyond the PARP family, which could result in differential clinical use or toxicity, are unknown. Using an unbiased, mass spectrometry-based chemical proteomics approach, we generated a comparative proteome-wide target map of the four clinical PARPi, olaparib, veliparib, niraparib, and rucaparib. PARPi as a class displayed high target selectivity. However, in addition to the canonical targets PARP1, PARP2, and several of their binding partners, we also identified hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (H6PD) and deoxycytidine kinase (DCK) as previously unrecognized targets of rucaparib and niraparib, respectively. Subsequent functional validation suggested that inhibition of DCK by niraparib could have detrimental effects when combined with nucleoside analog pro-drugs. H6PD silencing can cause apoptosis and further sensitize cells to PARPi, suggesting that H6PD may be, in addition to its established role in metabolic disorders, a new anticancer target.

Adaptive responses to dasatinib-treated lung squamous cell cancer cells harboring DDR2 mutations.

DDR2 mutations occur in approximately 4% of lung squamous cell cancer (SCC) where the tyrosine kinase inhibitor dasatinib has emerged as a new therapeutic option. We found that ERK and AKT phosphorylation was weakly inhibited by dasatinib in DDR2-mutant lung SCC cells, suggesting that dasatinib inhibits survival signals distinct from other oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) and/or compensatory signals exist that dampen dasatinib activity. To gain better insight into dasatinib's action in these cells, we assessed altered global tyrosine phosphorylation (pY) after dasatinib exposure using a mass spectrometry-based quantitative phosphoproteomics approach. Overlaying protein-protein interaction relationships upon this dasatinib-regulated pY network revealed decreased phosphorylation of Src family kinases and their targets. Conversely, dasatinib enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation in a panel of RTK and their signaling adaptor complexes, including EGFR, MET/GAB1, and IGF1R/IRS2, implicating a RTK-driven adaptive response associated with dasatinib. To address the significance of this observation, these results were further integrated with results from a small-molecule chemical library screen. We found that dasatinib combined with MET and insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF1R) inhibitors had a synergistic effect, and ligand stimulation of EGFR and MET rescued DDR2-mutant lung SCC cells from dasatinib-induced loss of cell viability. Importantly, we observed high levels of tyrosine-phosphorylated EGFR and MET in a panel of human lung SCC tissues harboring DDR2 mutations. Our results highlight potential RTK-driven adaptive-resistant mechanisms upon DDR2 targeting, and they suggest new, rationale cotargeting strategies for DDR2-mutant lung SCC.