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Chen C, Shin JH, Fang Z, Brennan K, Horowitz NB, Pfaff KL, Welsh EL, Rodig SJ, Gevaert O, Gozani O, Uppaluri R, Sunwoo JB. Targeting KDM2A Enhances T-cell Infiltration in NSD1-Deficient Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancer Res 2023; 83:2645-2655. [PMID: 37311054 PMCID: PMC10526980 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-22-3114] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2022] [Revised: 04/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a significant proportion of tumors have inactivating mutations in the histone methyltransferase NSD1. In these tumors, NSD1 inactivation is a driver of T-cell exclusion from the tumor microenvironment (TME). A better understanding of the NSD1-mediated mechanism regulating infiltration of T cells into the TME could help identify approaches to overcome immunosuppression. Here, we demonstrated that NSD1 inactivation results in lower levels of H3K36 dimethylation and higher levels of H3K27 trimethylation, the latter being a known repressive histone mark enriched on the promoters of key T-cell chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10. HNSCC with NSD1 mutations had lower levels of these chemokines and lacked responses to PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade. Inhibition of KDM2A, the primary lysine demethylase that is selective for H3K36, reversed the altered histone marks induced by NSD1 loss and restored T-cell infiltration into the TME. Importantly, KDM2A suppression decreased growth of NSD1-deficient tumors in immunocompetent, but not in immunodeficient, mice. Together, these data indicate that KDM2A is an immunotherapeutic target for overcoming immune exclusion in HNSCC. SIGNIFICANCE The altered epigenetic landscape of NSD1-deficient tumors confers sensitivity to inhibition of the histone-modifying enzyme KDM2A as an immunotherapeutic strategy to stimulate T-cell infiltration and suppress tumor growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Chen
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - June Ho Shin
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Zhuoqing Fang
- Department of Anesthesia, Pain and Perioperative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Kevin Brennan
- Department of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics) and Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Nina B. Horowitz
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Kathleen L. Pfaff
- Center for Immuno-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Emma L. Welsh
- Center for Immuno-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Scott J. Rodig
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Olivier Gevaert
- Department of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics) and Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Or Gozani
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Ravindra Uppaluri
- Division of Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - John B. Sunwoo
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
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