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Kerdivel G, Amrouche F, Calmejane MA, Carallis F, Hamroune J, Hantel C, Bertherat J, Assié G, Boeva V. DNA hypermethylation driven by DNMT1 and DNMT3A favors tumor immune escape contributing to the aggressiveness of adrenocortical carcinoma. Clin Epigenetics 2023; 15:121. [PMID: 37528470 PMCID: PMC10394822 DOI: 10.1186/s13148-023-01534-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Adrenocortical carcinoma is rare and aggressive endocrine cancer of the adrenal gland. Within adrenocortical carcinoma, a recently described subtype characterized by a CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) has been associated with an especially poor prognosis. However, the drivers of CIMP remain unknown. Furthermore, the functional relation between CIMP and poor clinical outcomes of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma stays elusive. RESULTS Here, we show that CIMP in adrenocortical carcinoma is linked to the increased expression of DNA methyltransferases DNMT1 and DNMT3A driven by a gain of gene copy number and cell hyperproliferation. Importantly, we demonstrate that CIMP contributes to tumor aggressiveness by favoring tumor immune escape. This effect could be at least partially reversed by treatment with the demethylating agent 5-azacytidine. CONCLUSIONS In sum, our findings suggest that co-treatment with demethylating agents might enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy and could represent a novel therapeutic approach for patients with high CIMP adrenocortical carcinoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gwenneg Kerdivel
- INSERM, U1016, Cochin Institute, CNRS UMR8104, University of Paris, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France
| | - Floriane Amrouche
- INSERM, U1016, Cochin Institute, CNRS UMR8104, University of Paris, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France
| | - Marie-Ange Calmejane
- INSERM, U1016, Cochin Institute, CNRS UMR8104, University of Paris, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France
| | | | - Juliette Hamroune
- INSERM, U1016, Cochin Institute, CNRS UMR8104, University of Paris, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France
| | - Constanze Hantel
- Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition, University Hospital Zurich (USZ) and University of Zurich (UZH), Zurich, Switzerland
- Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik III, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Jérôme Bertherat
- INSERM, U1016, Cochin Institute, CNRS UMR8104, University of Paris, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France
| | - Guillaume Assié
- INSERM, U1016, Cochin Institute, CNRS UMR8104, University of Paris, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France
| | - Valentina Boeva
- INSERM, U1016, Cochin Institute, CNRS UMR8104, University of Paris, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France.
- Department of Computer Science, Institute for Machine Learning, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 6, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), Zurich, Switzerland.
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