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Regulation of c-Myc expression by the histone demethylase JMJD1A is essential for prostate cancer cell growth and survival

Oncogene volume 35, pages 2441–2452 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The histone demethylase JMJD1A, which controls gene expression by epigenetic regulation of H3K9 methylation marks, functions in diverse activities, including spermatogenesis, metabolism and stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Here, we found that JMJD1A knockdown in prostate cancer cells antagonizes their proliferation and survival. Profiling array analyses revealed that JMJD1A-dependent genes function in cellular growth, proliferation and survival, and implicated that the c-Myc transcriptional network is deregulated following JMJD1A inhibition. Biochemical analyses confirmed that JMJD1A enhances c-Myc transcriptional activity by upregulating c-Myc expression levels. Mechanistically, JMJD1A activity promoted recruitment of androgen receptor (AR) to the c-Myc gene enhancer and induced H3K9 demethylation, increasing AR-dependent transcription of c-Myc mRNA. In parallel, we found that JMJD1A regulated c-Myc stability, likely by inhibiting HUWE1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase known to target degradation of several substrates including c-Myc. JMJD1A (wild type or mutant lacking histone demethylase activity) bound to HUWE1, attenuated HUWE1-dependent ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of c-Myc, increasing c-Myc protein levels. Furthermore, c-Myc knockdown in prostate cancer cells phenocopied effects of JMJD1A knockdown, and c-Myc re-expression in JMJD1A-knockdown cells partially rescued prostate cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. c-Myc protein levels were positively correlated with those of JMJD1A in a subset of human prostate cancer specimens. Collectively, our findings identify a critical role for JMJD1A in regulating proliferation and survival of prostate cancer cells by controlling c-Myc expression at transcriptional and post-translational levels.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Ze’ev Ronai and members of the Ronai Lab for helpful discussions. We thank Dr Yi Zhang for the human JMJD1A expression plasmids, Dr Genze Shao for the GFP-HUWE1 expression plasmids, Dr William Tansey for the c-Myc expression plasmid and Dr Ze’ev Ronai for the p53 expression plasmid and 5XTRE luciferase reporter. Support by NCI Grant CA154888 (to JQ) and a Merit Review Award Department of Veterans Affairs (to AH) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    L Fan, G Peng, Y Zhang, A Hussain & J Qi

  2. Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    L Fan, G Peng, A Hussain & J Qi

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    L Fan, G Peng & J Qi

  4. Centre for Molecular Oncology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    N Sahgal

  5. Vancouver Prostate Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    L Fazli & M Gleave

  6. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Y Zhang

  7. Baltimore VA Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA

    A Hussain

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Fan, L., Peng, G., Sahgal, N. et al. Regulation of c-Myc expression by the histone demethylase JMJD1A is essential for prostate cancer cell growth and survival. Oncogene 35, 2441–2452 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2015.309

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