Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasizes mainly to the liver, which accounts for the majority of CRC-related deaths. Here it is shown that metastatic cells undergo specific chromatin remodeling in the liver. Hepatic growth factor (HGF) induces phosphorylation of PU.1, a pioneer factor, which in turn binds and opens chromatin regions of downstream effector genes. PU.1 increases histone acetylation at the DPP4 locus. Precise epigenetic silencing by CRISPR/dCas9KRAB or CRISPR/dCas9HDAC revealed that individual PU.1-remodeled regulatory elements collectively modulate DPP4 expression and liver metastasis growth. Genetic silencing or pharmacological inhibition of each factor along this chromatin remodeling axis strongly suppressed liver metastasis. Therefore, microenvironment-induced epimutation is an important mechanism for metastatic tumor cells to grow in their new niche. This study presents a potential strategy to target chromatin remodeling in metastatic cancer and the promise of repurposing drugs to treat metastasis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 2004673 |
Journal | Advanced Science |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 19 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 6 2021 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- DPP4
- PU.1
- chromatin remodeling
- colorectal cancer
- epigenetics
- hepatic growth factor (HGF)
- metastasis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Chemical Engineering(all)
- Materials Science(all)
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)
- Engineering(all)
- Physics and Astronomy(all)