Hedwig E. Deubzer

HDAC family: What are the cancer relevant targets?

Histone deacetylases comprise a family of 18 genes, which are grouped into classes I-IV based on their homology to their respective yeast orthologues. Classes I, II, and IV consist of 11 family members, which are referred to as classical HDACs, whereas the 7 class III members are called sirtuins. Classical HDACs are a promising novel class of anti-cancer drug targets. First HDAC inhibitors have been evaluated in clinical trials and show activity against several cancer diseases. However, these compounds act unselectively against several or all 11 HDAC family members. As a consequence, clinical phase I trials document a wide range of side effects. Therefore, the current challenge in the field is to define the cancer relevant HDAC family member(s) in a given tumor type and to design selective inhibitors, which target cancer cells but leave out normal cells. Knockout of single HDAC family members in mice produces a variety of phenotypes ranging from early embryonic death to viable animals with only discrete alterations, indicating that potential side effects of HDAC inhibitors depend on the selectivity of the compounds. Recently, several studies have shown that certain HDAC family members are aberrantly expressed in several tumors and have non-redundant function in controlling hallmarks of cancer cells. The aim of this review is to discuss individual HDAC family members as drug targets in cancer taking into consideration their function under physiological conditions and their oncogenic potential in malignant disease.

Histone deacetylase 8 in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis

Purpose: The effects of pan–histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors on cancer cells have shown that HDACs are involved in fundamental tumor biological processes such as cell cycle control, differentiation, and apoptosis. However, because of the unselective nature of these compounds, little is known about the contribution of individual HDAC family members to tumorigenesis and progression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of individual HDACs in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis. Experimental Design: We have investigated the mRNA expression of all HDAC1-11 family members in a large cohort of primary neuroblastoma samples covering the full spectrum of the disease. HDACs associated with disease stage and survival were subsequently functionally evaluated in cell culture models. Results: Only HDAC8 expression was significantly correlated with advanced disease and metastasis and down-regulated in stage 4S neuroblastoma associated with spontaneous regression. High HDAC8 expression was associated with poor prognostic markers and poor overall and event-free survival. The knockdown of HDAC8 resulted in the inhibition of proliferation, reduced clonogenic growth, cell cycle arrest, and differentiation in cultured neuroblastoma cells. The treatment of neuroblastoma cell lines as well as short-term-culture neuroblastoma cells with an HDAC8-selective small-molecule inhibitor inhibited cell proliferation and clone formation, induced differentiation, and thus reproduced the HDAC8 knockdown phenotype. Global histone 4 acetylation was not affected by HDAC8 knockdown or by selective inhibitor treatment. Conclusions: Our data point toward an important role of HDAC8 in neuroblastoma pathogenesis and identify this HDAC family member as a specific drug target for the differentiation therapy of neuroblastoma.

HDAC5 and HDAC9 in Medulloblastoma: Novel Markers for Risk Stratification and Role in Tumor Cell Growth

Purpose: Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumors in childhood. Survivors suffer from high morbidity because of therapy-related side effects. Thus, therapies targeting tumors in a specific manner with small molecules such as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are urgently warranted. This study investigated the expression levels of individual human HDAC family members in primary medulloblastoma samples, their potential as risk stratification markers, and their roles in tumor cell growth. Experimental Design: Gene expression arrays were used to screen for HDAC1 through HDAC11. Using quantitative real time reverse transcriptase-PCR and immunohistochemistry, we studied the expression of HDAC5 and HDAC9 in primary medulloblastoma samples. In addition, we conducted functional studies using siRNA-mediated knockdown of HDAC5 and HDAC9 in medulloblastoma cells. Results: HDAC5 and HDAC9 showed the highest expression in prognostically poor subgroups. This finding was validated in an independent set of medulloblastoma samples. High HDAC5 and HDAC9 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival, with high HDAC5 and HDAC9 expression posing an independent risk factor. Immunohistochemistry revealed a strong expression of HDAC5 and HDAC9 proteins in most of all primary medulloblastomas investigated. siRNA-mediated knockdown of HDAC5 or HDAC9 in medulloblastoma cells resulted in decreased cell growth and cell viability. Conclusion: HDAC5 and HDAC9 are significantly upregulated in high-risk medulloblastoma in comparison with low-risk medulloblastoma, and their expression is associated with poor survival. Thus, HDAC5 and HDAC9 may be valuable markers for risk stratification. Because our functional studies point toward a role in medulloblastoma cell growth, HDAC5 and HDAC9 may potentially be novel drug targets. Clin Cancer Res; 16(12); 3240–52. ©2010 AACR.

Histone deacetylase 10 promotes autophagy-mediated cell survival

Significance Resistance to chemotherapy is one of the major challenges in oncology. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood, and the successful response of high-risk patients to chemotherapy remains poor. Our work showed that the so far poorly studied histone deacetylase (HDAC)10 promotes autophagy-mediated cell survival and signals poor outcome in independent high-risk patient cohorts. Inhibition of HDAC10 sensitized tumor cells for cytotoxic drug treatment. These results offer HDAC10 as a potential biomarker for treatment response of high-risk tumors and open new avenues for developing selective treatment strategies to bypass drug resistance of these tumors. Tumor cells activate autophagy in response to chemotherapy-induced DNA damage as a survival program to cope with metabolic stress. Here, we provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that histone deacetylase (HDAC)10 promotes autophagy-mediated survival in neuroblastoma cells. We show that both knockdown and inhibition of HDAC10 effectively disrupted autophagy associated with sensitization to cytotoxic drug treatment in a panel of highly malignant V-MYC myelocytomatosis viral-related oncogene, neuroblastoma derived-amplified neuroblastoma cell lines, in contrast to nontransformed cells. HDAC10 depletion in neuroblastoma cells interrupted autophagic flux and induced accumulation of autophagosomes, lysosomes, and a prominent substrate of the autophagic degradation pathway, p62/sequestosome 1. Enforced HDAC10 expression protected neuroblastoma cells against doxorubicin treatment through interaction with heat shock protein 70 family proteins, causing their deacetylation. Conversely, heat shock protein 70/heat shock cognate 70 was acetylated in HDAC10-depleted cells. HDAC10 expression levels in high-risk neuroblastomas correlated with autophagy in gene-set analysis and predicted treatment success in patients with advanced stage 4 neuroblastomas. Our results demonstrate that HDAC10 protects cancer cells from cytotoxic agents by mediating autophagy and identify this HDAC isozyme as a druggable regulator of advanced-stage tumor cell survival. Moreover, these results propose a promising way to considerably improve treatment response in the neuroblastoma patient subgroup with the poorest outcome.

Enhancement of Radiation Response in Osteosarcoma and Rhabomyosarcoma Cell Lines by Histone Deacetylase Inhibition

PURPOSEnHistone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) can enhance the sensitivity of cells to photon radiation treatment (XRT) by altering numerous molecular pathways. We investigated the effect of pan-HDACIs such as suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) on radiation response in two osteosarcoma (OS) and two rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) cell lines.nnnMETHODS AND MATERIALSnClonogenic survival, cell cycle analysis, and apoptosis were examined in OS (KHOS-24OS, SAOS2) and RMS (A-204, RD) cell lines treated with HDACI and HDACI plus XRT, respectively. Protein expression was investigated via immunoblot analysis, and cell cycle analysis and measurement of apoptosis were performed using flow cytometry.nnnRESULTSnSAHA induced an inhibition of cell proliferation and clonogenic survival in OS and RMS cell lines and led to a significant radiosensitization of all tumor cell lines. Other HDACI such as M344 and valproate showed similar effects as investigated in one OS cell line. Furthermore, SAHA significantly increased radiation-induced apoptosis in the OS cell lines, whereas in the RMS cell lines radiation-induced apoptosis was insignificant with and without SAHA. In all investigated sarcoma cell lines, SAHA attenuated radiation-induced DNA repair protein expression (Rad51, Ku80).nnnCONCLUSIONnOur results show that HDACIs enhance radiation action in OS and RMS cell lines. Inhibition of DNA repair, as well as increased apoptosis induction after exposure to HDACIs, can be mechanisms of radiosensitization by HDACIs.

Hox-C9 activates the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis and is associated with spontaneous regression in neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is an embryonal malignancy of the sympathetic nervous system. Spontaneous regression and differentiation of neuroblastoma is observed in a subset of patients, and has been suggested to represent delayed activation of physiologic molecular programs of fetal neuroblasts. Homeobox genes constitute an important family of transcription factors, which play a fundamental role in morphogenesis and cell differentiation during embryogenesis. In this study, we demonstrate that expression of the majority of the human HOX class I homeobox genes is significantly associated with clinical covariates in neuroblastoma using microarray expression data of 649 primary tumors. Moreover, a HOX gene expression-based classifier predicted neuroblastoma patient outcome independently of age, stage and MYCN amplification status. Among all HOX genes, HOXC9 expression was most prominently associated with favorable prognostic markers. Most notably, elevated HOXC9 expression was significantly associated with spontaneous regression in infant neuroblastoma. Re-expression of HOXC9 in three neuroblastoma cell lines led to a significant reduction in cell viability, and abrogated tumor growth almost completely in neuroblastoma xenografts. Neuroblastoma growth arrest was related to the induction of programmed cell death, as indicated by an increase in the sub-G1 fraction and translocation of phosphatidylserine to the outer membrane. Programmed cell death was associated with the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria into the cytosol and activation of the intrinsic cascade of caspases, indicating that HOXC9 re-expression triggers the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Collectively, our results show a strong prognostic impact of HOX gene expression in neuroblastoma, and may point towards a role of Hox-C9 in neuroblastoma spontaneous regression.

CAMTA1, a 1p36 Tumor Suppressor Candidate, Inhibits Growth and Activates Differentiation Programs in Neuroblastoma Cells

A distal portion of human chromosome 1p is often deleted in neuroblastomas and other cancers and it is generally assumed that this region harbors one or more tumor suppressor genes. In neuroblastoma, a 261 kb region at 1p36.3 that encompasses the smallest region of consistent deletion pinpoints the locus for calmodulin binding transcription activator 1 (CAMTA1). Low CAMTA1 expression is an independent predictor of poor outcome in multivariate survival analysis, but its potential functionality in neuroblastoma has not been explored. In this study, we used inducible cell models to analyze the impact of CAMTA1 on neuroblastoma biology. In neuroblastoma cells that expressed little endogenous CAMTA1, its ectopic expression slowed cell proliferation, increasing the relative proportion of cells in G(1)/G(0) phases of the cell cycle, inhibited anchorage-independent colony formation, and suppressed the growth of tumor xenografts. CAMTA1 also induced neurite-like processes and markers of neuronal differentiation in neuroblastoma cells. Further, retinoic acid and other differentiation- inducing stimuli upregulated CAMTA1 expression in neuroblastoma cells. Transciptome analysis revealed 683 genes regulated on CAMTA1 induction and gene ontology analysis identified genes consistent with CAMTA1-induced phenotypes, with a significant enrichment for genes involved in neuronal function and differentiation. Our findings define properties of CAMTA1 in growth suppression and neuronal differentiation that support its assignment as a 1p36 tumor suppressor gene in neuroblastoma.

MYCN and HDAC2 cooperate to repress miR-183 signaling in neuroblastoma.

MYCN is a master regulator controlling many processes necessary for tumor cell survival. Here, we unravel a microRNA network that causes tumor suppressive effects in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells. In profiling studies, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor treatment most strongly induced miR-183. Enforced miR-183 expression triggered apoptosis, and inhibited anchorage-independent colony formation in vitro and xenograft growth in mice. Furthermore, the mechanism of miR-183 induction was found to contribute to the cell death phenotype induced by HDAC inhibitors. Experiments to identify the HDAC(s) involved in miR-183 transcriptional regulation showed that HDAC2 depletion induced miR-183. HDAC2 overexpression reduced miR-183 levels and counteracted the induction caused by HDAC2 depletion or HDAC inhibitor treatment. MYCN was found to recruit HDAC2 in the same complexes to the miR-183 promoter, and HDAC2 depletion enhanced promoter-associated histone H4 pan-acetylation, suggesting epigenetic changes preceded transcriptional activation. These data reveal miR-183 tumor suppressive properties in neuroblastoma that are jointly repressed by MYCN and HDAC2, and suggest a novel way to bypass MYCN function.

Targeting Histone Deacetylases in Neuroblastoma

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are an emerging class of novel anti-cancer drug targets. Recently, studies in adult cancers and in neuroblastoma have shown that individual HDAC family members are aberrantly expressed in tumors and correlate with disease stage and prognosis. In neuroblastoma, knockdown of individual HDAC family members causes distinct phenotypes ranging from differentiation to apoptosis. HDACs are involved in controlling MYCN function and are upregulated in chemotherapy-resistant neuroblastoma cells. Treatment with unselective pan-HDAC inhibitors causes cell cycle arrest, differentiation, apoptosis, and inhibition of clonogenic growth of neuroblastoma cells, and restores susceptibility to chemotherapy treatment. The molecular mechanisms mediating the anti-cancer effects of HDAC inhibitors on neuroblastoma cells are incompletely understood and involve targeting of aberrant epigenetic repression of tumor suppressor genes, activation of developmental differentiation pathways, as well as changing the acetylation level and function of non-histone proteins. In neuroblastoma mouse models, unselective HDAC inhibitors demonstrate anti-tumoral effects. First phase I clinical trials in children with refractory cancers using HDAC inhibitors depsipeptide and the recently approved vorinostat are underway. This review summarizes our current knowledge about classical HDAC family members as novel drug targets for neuroblastoma therapy and discusses the potential role of next generation, selective HDAC inhibitors.

HDAC11 is a novel drug target in carcinomas

Inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity as stand‐alone or combination therapy represents a promising therapeutic approach in oncology. The pan‐ or class I HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) currently approved or in clinical studies for oncology give rise to dose‐limiting toxicities, presumably because of the inhibition of several HDACs. This could potentially be overcome by selective blockade of single HDAC family members. Here we report that HDAC11, the most recently identified zinc‐dependent HDAC, is overexpressed in several carcinomas as compared to corresponding healthy tissues. HDAC11 depletion is sufficient to cause cell death and to inhibit metabolic activity in HCT‐116 colon, PC‐3 prostate, MCF‐7 breast and SK‐OV‐3 ovarian cancer cell lines. The antitumoral effect induced can be mimicked by enforced expression of a catalytically impaired HDAC11 variant, suggesting that inhibition of the enzymatic activity of HDAC11 by small molecules could trigger the desired phenotypic changes. HDAC11 depletion in normal cells causes no changes in metabolic activity and viability, strongly suggesting that tumor‐selective effects can be achieved. Altogether, our data show that HDAC11 plays a critical role in cancer cell survival and may represent a novel drug target in oncology.