Abstract 1671: Engineering new cellular models to decipher H3.3K27M mutation role in DIPGs' resistance to therapies
Authors: Rakotomalala Andria , Lewandowski Paul , Bailleul Quentin , Savary Clara , Arcicasa Mélanie , Bal Christine , Hamadou Maud , Huchedé Paul , Restouin Audrey , Castellano Remy , Collette Yves , Vincent Audrey , Angrand Pierre-Olivier , Adriaenssens Eric , Bourhis Xuefen Le , Leblond Pierre , Castets Marie , Pasquier Eddy , Furlan Alessandro , Meignan Samuel 
Published: June 2022

Among pediatric brain tumors, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas (DIPGs) display a particularly dismal prognosis, highlighted by their median survival lower than one year. Indeed, DIPGs’ location and infiltrative properties preclude their surgical resection. Moreover, DIPGs poorly respond to chemotherapeutic agents. In this context, the only treatment for these tumors remains palliative radiotherapy, systematically followed by tumor progression. In addition to their resistance to therapies, DIPGs are characterized by recurrent histone H3 mutations. The H3.3K27M mutation is the most frequent and results from a heterozygous single nucleotide variant in the H3F3A gene, inducing the lysine 27 substitution by a methionine. Although H3.3K27M’s driver role in DIPGs tumorigenesis is now established, its role in their chemo- and radioresistance remains unclear. Aiming to decipher the potential role of this mutation in pediatric gliomas’ resistance to therapies, we established isogenic cellular models of H3.3K27M induction and reversion.We first induced H3.3K27M mutation in three initially non-mutated supratentorial pediatric glioma cell lines. Thus, we generated models that stably expressed the dominant-negative H3.3K27M or the wild type H3.3 as controls. Complementarily, to study H3.3K27M roles in a DIPG cell context, we also developed H3.3K27M reversion models in two initially mutated DIPG cell lines by applying a gene-editing strategy based on the combinatorial use of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology and an insert.We showed that H3.3K27M induction in Res259 and KNS42 cells conferred a radioresistant phenotype to a fractionated radiotherapy schedule. Besides, we performed a screening of 80 anti-cancer drugs, which revealed a differential impact of the mutation on the drug sensitivity profiles of our three H3.3K27M-induced cell lines. These results indicate that H3.3K27M can control pediatric glioma cells’ resistance to therapies, but in a heterogeneous way depending on the cellular context. Along this line, we are currently characterizing the chemo- and radiotherapy response of our new DIPG H3.3K27M-reversed models. Altogether, our first results support a role for H3.3K27M in pediatric gliomas resistance to treatments, and our complementary models pave the way for identifying new H3.3K27M-dependent mechanisms and promising targets to sensitize DIPGs to therapies.

Citation Format: Andria Rakotomalala, Paul Lewandowski, Quentin Bailleul, Clara Savary, Mélanie Arcicasa, Christine Bal, Maud Hamadou, Paul Huchedé, Audrey Restouin, Remy Castellano, Yves Collette, Audrey Vincent, Pierre-Olivier Angrand, Eric Adriaenssens, Xuefen Le Bourhis, Pierre Leblond, Marie Castets, Eddy Pasquier, Alessandro Furlan, Samuel Meignan. Engineering new cellular models to decipher H3.3K27M mutation role in DIPGs' resistance to therapies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1671.