Abstract 3837: JQ1 induces cell death and disrupts BET protein binding to the MYC locus in cholangiocarcinoma cells
Authors: Fehling Samuel C. , Miller Aubrey L. , Yoon Karina J. 
Published: August 2019

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive bile duct neoplasm which is typically not diagnosed until late stage. The current standard of care, resection followed by gemcitabine with or without cisplatin, is relatively ineffective. Additionally, most patients are ineligible for surgical resection, and postoperative chemotherapy rarely prolongs overall survival. No previously identified mutations (KRAS, SMAD4 and p53) have been shown to drive disease progression. We and others have shown that the proto-oncogene c-Myc is expressed at relatively high levels in CCA cells compared to uninvolved normal tissue, suggesting this oncogene as a prospective therapeutic target in CCA. To evaluate whether c-Myc inhibition affected the proliferation of CCA cells, we evaluated the efficacy of the bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) inhibitor JQ1 on c-Myc expression and cell proliferation of CCA cells. JQ1 functions as an acetyl lysine (K-Ac) mimetic which binds to the K-Ac binding pocket of BET protein family members (BRD2, BRD3, BRD4 and BRDT). This binding competitively inhibits the association of BET proteins with K-Ac residues of nuclear proteins and inhibits c-Myc expression. Using a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model of CCA, we showed previously that JQ1 downregulated c-Myc expression and inhibited tumor growth. Therefore, we hypothesized that JQ1 induces CCA cell death through disruption of BET protein binding to the promoter region of the MYC locus, inducing its downregulation. Our data show that JQ1 decreased c-Myc RNA and protein expression as well as the expression c-Myc transcriptional targets CHK1 and BRCA2. JQ1 also decreased CCA cell viability, clonogenic potential and induced apoptosis of KKU-055 CCA cells in vitro. The likely mechanism of JQ1-mediated c-Myc reduction has been postulated to involve competitive inhibition of the K-Ac binding function of the BET protein BRD4. Our current chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays indicate that BRD2 binds to the MYC transcriptional start sites (TSS) P1 and P2, while BRD4 primarily binds MYC TSS P1 in KKU-055 cells. JQ1 precludes these BET proteins from binding their respective sites. When exposed to the IC50 of JQ1, ChIP pulldown with an anti-BRD2 antibody displays a near 100% reduction in binding of BRD2 to the MYC TSS while an anti-BRD4 antibody displays a 70% reduction in binding. In addition, stable BRD2 knockdown models of KKU-055 display reduced c-Myc protein expression by 60 to 80%, while BRD4 knockdown models showed no such reduction. The data demonstrate that in addition to BRD4, BRD2 contributes to regulation of expression of c-Myc in CCA cells. Research funded by NIH/NCI R21 CA205501

Citation Format: Samuel C. Fehling, Aubrey L. Miller, Karina J. Yoon. JQ1 induces cell death and disrupts BET protein binding to the MYC locus in cholangiocarcinoma cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3837.