WDR5 promotes the proliferation of lung adenocarcinoma by inducing SOX9 expression

The Wdr5-H3K4me3 Epigenetic Axis Regulates Pancreatic Tumor Immunogenicity and Immune Suppression

The WDR5/MLL1-H3K4me3 epigenetic axis is often activated in both tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating immune cells to drive various cellular responses in the tumor microenvironment and has been extensively studied in hematopoietic cancer, but its respective functions in tumor cells and immune cells in the context of tumor growth regulation of solid tumor is still incompletely understood. We report here that WDR5 exhibits a higher expression level in human pancreatic tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal pancreas. Moreover, WDR5 expression is negatively correlated with patients' response to chemotherapy or immunotherapy in human colon cancer and melanoma. However, WDR5 expression is positively correlated with the HLA level in human cancer cells, and H3K4me3 enrichment is observed at the promoter region of the HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C genes in pancreatic cancer cells. Using mouse tumor cell lines and in vivo tumor models, we determined that WDR5 deficiency or inhibition significantly represses MHC I expression in vitro and in vivo in pancreatic tumor cells. Mechanistically, we determine that WDR5 deficiency inhibits H3K4me3 deposition at the MHC I (H2K) promoter region to repress MHC I (H2K) transcription. On the other hand, WDR5 depletion leads to the effective downregulation of immune checkpoints and immunosuppressive cytokines, including TGFβ and IL6, in the pancreatic tumor microenvironments. Our data determine that WDR5 not only regulates tumor cell immunogenicity to suppress tumor growth but also activates immune suppressive pathways to promote tumor immune evasion. Selective activation of the WDR5-MHC I pathway and/or selective inhibition of the WDR5-immune checkpoint and WDR5-cytokine pathways should be considered in WDR5-based epigenetic cancer immunotherapy.

Intermittent hypoxia BMSCs-derived exosomal miR-31-5p promotes lung adenocarcinoma development via WDR5-induced epithelial mesenchymal transition

BACKGROUND

Intermittent hypoxia (IH) is a factor involved in the incidence and progression of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Bone marrow-derived bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs)-derived exosomes are related to the promotion of tumor development. The objective of this experiment was to clarify the mechanism of exosomes from BMSCs in promoting the progression of LUAD induced by IH.

METHODS

This study examined if IH BMSCS-derived exosomes affect the malignancy of LUAD cells in vitro. Dual-luciferase assays were conducted to confirm the target of miR-31-5p with WD repeat domain 5 (WDR5). We further investigated whether or not  exosomal miR-31-5p or WDR5 could regulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We determined the effect of IH exosomes using a tumorigenesis model in vivo.

RESULTS

miR-31-5p entered into LUAD cells via exosomes. MiR-31-5p was greatly upregulated in IH BMSCs-derived exosomes compared with RA exosomes. Increased expression of exosomal miR-31-5p induced by IH was discovered to target WDR5 directly, increased activation of WDR5, and significantly facilitated EMT, thereby promoting LUAD progression.

CONCLUSIONS

The promoting effect of IH on LUAD is achieved partly through BMSCs-derived exosomal miR-31-5p triggering WDR5 and promoting EMT.

WDR5 is a prognostic biomarker of brain metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer

Background

Lung cancer (LC) is the most frequent caner type and causes the most cancer-related death. Brain metastases (BM) are the deadliest complications of lung cancer, and the prognostic biomarkers of BM are urgently needed.

Materials and methods

In our study, we established an inception cohort including 122 patients with asynchronous BM from NSCLC, and further selected 70 patients who received surgical resection, which compromised the validation cohort. With immunohistochemistry, we investigated the expression of WDR5 in the cohort. By chi-square method, the correlations between WDR5 and clinicopathological factors were analyzed. The prognostic indicators were analyzed with the univariate analysis, and independent prognostic factors were identified by multivariate analysis with Cox-regression model.

Results

WDR5 is frequently expressed in the cytoplasm of BM from NSCLC. Patients with low or high expression of WDR5 account for 60% and 40% respectively. High expression of WDR5 indicates poor prognosis of BM from NSCLC (P=0.001). In addition to WDR5, KPS is also a prognostic factor of BM, and high KPS predicts favorable prognosis (P=0.006). WDR5 is an independent prognostic biomarker for poor prognosis of BM from NSCLC, with the cancer-related odds as 2.48.

Conclusions

High expression of WDR5 can predict the poor prognosis of BM, and WDR5 is an independent prognostic biomarker of BM from NSCLC. Patients with WDR5 overexpression are more high-risk to suffer BM-related death and should receive more intense post-operational supervision.