SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers.
Cancers with TERT promoter mutations (TPM) display elevated RAS pathway signaling and mesenchymal traits, and associate with lower patient survival rates. We examined whether RAS pathway signaling in TPM cancers cooperates with mesenchymal features to drive resistance to apoptosis. We observed that...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322961 |
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| author | Amol Tandon Josh Lewis Stern |
| author_facet | Amol Tandon Josh Lewis Stern |
| author_sort | Amol Tandon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cancers with TERT promoter mutations (TPM) display elevated RAS pathway signaling and mesenchymal traits, and associate with lower patient survival rates. We examined whether RAS pathway signaling in TPM cancers cooperates with mesenchymal features to drive resistance to apoptosis. We observed that RAS pathway signaling in TPM cancers inhibited apoptosis by downregulating the pro-apoptotic protein BIM. By using inhibitors of MEK1/2 kinases, we rescued the ability of TPM cancer cells to undergo apoptosis, which may have implications for targeted therapies. To further capitalize on this rescue, we explored combination treatments to drive apoptotic cell death. Treatment with the pan-BCL2 inhibitor, navitoclax (NX), in combination with MEK inhibition, significantly increased apoptosis, indicating that these cells are capable of undergoing intrinsic apoptosis, with BIM likely playing a critical role. Further, we found that transcriptional reprogramming of the mesenchymal state of TPM cancers using histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) resulted in a synergistic increase in apoptosis, contingent upon BIM de-repression. Notably, the cause of this apoptosis appeared to be independent of DNA damage. The suppression of the mesenchymal transcription factor SNAI2, which has known roles in recruiting HDACs to silence gene expression, amplified apoptosis. Mechanistically, knockdown of SNAI2 impaired the cellular DNA repair leading to elevated basal levels of phosphorylated H2AX. Our findings show that TPM cancers exhibit specific small molecule vulnerabilities, driven by the convergence of RAS-MEK signaling and impaired HDAC regulation dependent on pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins. Based on our findings, we propose that stratifying cancers based on TPM may identify a subset of tumors that are responsive to innovative combinations of inhibitors targeting these axes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-db708fce3b464849a30fa34aeaaa895b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
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| spelling | doaj-art-db708fce3b464849a30fa34aeaaa895b2025-08-20T03:32:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01206e032296110.1371/journal.pone.0322961SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers.Amol TandonJosh Lewis SternCancers with TERT promoter mutations (TPM) display elevated RAS pathway signaling and mesenchymal traits, and associate with lower patient survival rates. We examined whether RAS pathway signaling in TPM cancers cooperates with mesenchymal features to drive resistance to apoptosis. We observed that RAS pathway signaling in TPM cancers inhibited apoptosis by downregulating the pro-apoptotic protein BIM. By using inhibitors of MEK1/2 kinases, we rescued the ability of TPM cancer cells to undergo apoptosis, which may have implications for targeted therapies. To further capitalize on this rescue, we explored combination treatments to drive apoptotic cell death. Treatment with the pan-BCL2 inhibitor, navitoclax (NX), in combination with MEK inhibition, significantly increased apoptosis, indicating that these cells are capable of undergoing intrinsic apoptosis, with BIM likely playing a critical role. Further, we found that transcriptional reprogramming of the mesenchymal state of TPM cancers using histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) resulted in a synergistic increase in apoptosis, contingent upon BIM de-repression. Notably, the cause of this apoptosis appeared to be independent of DNA damage. The suppression of the mesenchymal transcription factor SNAI2, which has known roles in recruiting HDACs to silence gene expression, amplified apoptosis. Mechanistically, knockdown of SNAI2 impaired the cellular DNA repair leading to elevated basal levels of phosphorylated H2AX. Our findings show that TPM cancers exhibit specific small molecule vulnerabilities, driven by the convergence of RAS-MEK signaling and impaired HDAC regulation dependent on pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins. Based on our findings, we propose that stratifying cancers based on TPM may identify a subset of tumors that are responsive to innovative combinations of inhibitors targeting these axes.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322961 |
| spellingShingle | Amol Tandon Josh Lewis Stern SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers. PLoS ONE |
| title | SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers. |
| title_full | SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers. |
| title_fullStr | SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers. |
| title_full_unstemmed | SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers. |
| title_short | SNAI2 cooperates with MEK1/2 and HDACs to suppress BIM- and BMF-dependent apoptosis in TERT promoter mutant cancers. |
| title_sort | snai2 cooperates with mek1 2 and hdacs to suppress bim and bmf dependent apoptosis in tert promoter mutant cancers |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322961 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT amoltandon snai2cooperateswithmek12andhdacstosuppressbimandbmfdependentapoptosisintertpromotermutantcancers AT joshlewisstern snai2cooperateswithmek12andhdacstosuppressbimandbmfdependentapoptosisintertpromotermutantcancers |