EZH2 inhibition in multiple myeloma downregulates myeloma associated oncogenes and upregulates microRNAs with potential tumor suppressor functions [mRNA expression]

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell tumor localized to the bone marrow (BM). Despite current progress in improving patient outcome, MM remains largely incurable. Disease clonal and interpatient heterogeneity has hampered identification of a common underlying mechanism for disease establishment and have slowed the development of novel targeted therapies. Epigenetic aberrations are now emerging as increasingly important in tumorigenesis, thus selective targeting of crucial epigenetic enzymes may provide new therapeutic potential in cancer including MM. Recently, we and others suggested the histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), to be a potential therapeutic target in MM. Now we show that pharmacological inhibition of EZH2 suppresses the MM cell growth through downregulation of MM-associated oncogenes; IRF-4, XBP-1, PRDM1/BLIMP-1and c-MYC. We also show that downregulation of these genes is mediated via reactivated expression of microRNAs with tumor suppressor functions; primarily miR125a-3p and miR320c. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) we demonstrate that miR125a-3p and miR320c are targets of EZH2 and H3K27me3 in MM cell lines and primary MM cells. Our results further highlight the importance of polycomb-mediated silencing in MM to include microRNAs with tumor suppressor activity. This novel role further strengthens the oncogenic features of EZH2 and its potential as a therapeutic target in MM.

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Alzrigat M, Párraga AA, Agarwal P, Zureigat H, Österborg A, Nahi H, Ma A, Jin J, Nilsson K, Öberg F, Kalushkova A, Jernberg-Wiklund H