Abstract 2838: Epigenetic regulator MLL3 mutations promote tumor metastasis by enhancing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition state

Abstract

Abstract Epigenetic dysregulations have a recognized role in cancer pathogenesis. Histone methyltransferase MLL3 (mixed-lineage leukemia protein 3) (gene symbol - KMT2C) is one of the most frequently altered genes in human breast cancer. In addition to the loss-of-function mutations, the expression levels of MLL3 are downregulated significantly in the tumor, compared to normal breast samples. Consistent with these cancer genome findings, functional studies in mouse models and human cancer cells showed loss of MLL3 promotes tumor initiation and growth. However, the role of MLL3 mutation in metastasis has not been determined. Here we showed that the MLL3 levels were further reduced in distant metastases compared to primary tumors, suggesting a potential role of MLL3 loss in metastasis. We demonstrate that MLL3 loss markedly promoted distant metastasis through specifically enhancing the step of colonization during the metastatic cascade. MLL3 loss facilitated the acquisition of an epithelial/mesenchymal (E/M) transition state by cancer cells disseminated to the lung. These cells have a hybrid phenotype of epithelial and mesenchymal features. We further showed that the E/M transitional cells induced by MLL3 loss have greatly increased tumor-initiating ability and multi-organ metastatic ability. We further demonstrated that MLL3 lose facilitated luminal breast tumor cells to acquire the E/M hybrid features and promoted endocrine therapy resistance, suggesting that loss of MLL3 also promotes the epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity and therapeutic resistance. To identify vulnerability of MLL3-mutant cancer cells, we performed small molecule screening and discovered that MLL3-mutant cancer cells are markedly more sensitive to BET inhibitors than MLL3-WT cells. The in vivo study confirmed that the BET inhibitor repressed the MLL3-mutant tumor growth much more efficiently than MLL3-WT tumors. Furthermore, the BET inhibitor is effective in suppressing the growth of established MLL3-mutant lung metastasis. Taken together, our findings indicate that MLL3 mutations promotes metastasis and therapeutic resistance by enhancing epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity. However, these aggressive cancer cells are uniquely vulnerable to BET inhibition, suggesting a potential therapeutic strategy for MLL3-mutant cancers. Citation Format: Jihong Cui, Kai Ge, Wenjun Guo. Epigenetic regulator MLL3 mutations promote tumor metastasis by enhancing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition state [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2838.