EHMT2 inhibition induces cell death in human non-small cell lung cancer by altering the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway

Haeun Kim, Seo Yoon Choi, Jinyeong Lim, Anders M. Lindroth, Yoon Jung Park

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a major subtype of lung cancer. Besides genetic and environmental factors, epigenetic alterations contribute to the tumorigenesis of NSCLC. Epigenetic changes are considered key drivers of cancer initiation and progression, and altered expression and activity of epigenetic modifiers reshape the epigenetic landscape in cancer cells. Euchromatic histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 2 (EHMT2) is a histone methyltransferase and catalyzes mono-and di-methylation at histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9me1 and H3K9me2, respectively), leading to gene silencing. EHMT2 overexpression has been reported in various types of cancer, including ovarian cancer and neuroblastoma, in relation to cell proliferation and metastasis. However, its role in NSCLC is not fully understood. In this study, we showed that EHMT2 gene expression was higher in NSCLC than normal lung tissue based on publicly available data. Inhibition of EHMT2 by BIX01294 (BIX) reduced cell viability of NSCLC cell lines via induction of autophagy. Through RNA sequencing analysis, we found that EHMT2 inhibition significantly affected the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway. BIX treatment directly induced the expression of SREBF2, which is a master regulator of cholesterol biosynthesis, by lowering H3K9me1 and H3K9me2 at the promoter. Treatment of a cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitor, 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC), partially recovered BIX-induced cell death by attenuating autophagy. Our data demonstrated that EHMT2 inhibition effectively induced cell death in NSCLC cells through altering cholesterol metabolism-dependent autophagy.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1002
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume21
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This study was supported by Basic Science Research Programs through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korea government (2018R1D1A1B07051274) to Y.J.P. and by a grant from the National Cancer Center (1810050-1) to A.M.L. H.K. was supported by the Brain Korea 21 plus project (22A20130012143).

Funding Information:
This study was supported by Basic Science Research Programs through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korea government (2018R1D1A1B07051274) to Y.J.P. and by a grant from the National Cancer Center (1810050-1) to A.M.L. H.K. was supported by the Brain Korea 21 plus project (22A20130012143).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Autophagy
  • Cancer metabolism
  • Cholesterol synthesis
  • EHMT2
  • Epigenetics
  • Lung cancer

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'EHMT2 inhibition induces cell death in human non-small cell lung cancer by altering the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this