Dual targeting of aberrant DNA and histone methylation synergistically suppresses tumor cell growth in ATL

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) is a malignancy of mature CD4+ T cells caused by human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-induced T-cell transformation. Following infection with HTLV-1, it takes several decades for HTLV-1 carriers to develop ATL. The prognosis of ATL remains poor despite several new agents are approved in the last few years. Recently, it has been noted that epigenetic abnormalities both DNA methylation and tri-methylation at histone H3Lys27 (H3K27me3) contribute to ATL leukemogenesis. Here, we investigated the effect of combination treatment with DNA demethylating agents (azacytidine (AZA), decitabine (DAC), and OR-2100 (OR21), which is silylated derivative of decitabine) and inhibitors of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) (EPZ-6438 and DS-3201b) which catalyze trimethylation of H3K27, in ATL. The combination of DAC and OR21 but not AZA with EZH inhibitors exhibited synergistic anti-ATL effects in vitro and in vivo concomitant with DNA demethylation and reduction of H3K27me3. The combination induced gene expression reprogramming. Dual-specificity phosphatase 5 (DUSP5), an ERK-specific phosphatase, was identified as a key molecule that mediated the inhibitory effect of combination treatment by inactivating the ERK signaling pathway. DUSP5 was downregulated by DNA methylation and H3K27me3 accumulation in the promoter region in HTLV-1-infected cells from ATL patients during ATL leukemogenesis. The present results demonstrate that dual targeting of aberrant DNA and histone methylation synergistically suppresses tumor cell growth by restoring DUSP5, and the dual targeting of aberrant DNA and histone methylation is a feasible therapeutic approach for ATL.