P01.05 * ZBTB18 METHYLATION PROMOTES MESENCHYMAL TRANSFORMATION IN GLIOBLASTOMA

Abstract

Although studies performed in the past decade have contributed to a better classification and characterization of GBM, the overall survival and outcome of GBM patients have not seen major improvement. The mesenchymal signature is described as the subtype of GBM with the worst prognosis, primarily due to inherent resistance of the tumors to contemporary therapies. The identification of molecular determinants of mesenchymal transformation could potentially allow for the discovery of new therapeutic targets. The Zing Finger And BTB Domain Containing 18 (ZBTB18; formerly ZNF238) is a transcriptional repressor with a crucial role in brain development and neuronal differentiation. Consistent with our previous study, which provided preliminary evidence of a role for ZBTB18 in a network of mesenchymal transformation in GBM, our new data have discovered epigenetic silencing, that is promoter methylation, as a mechanism to downregulate ZBTB18 in these tumors. We show that ZBTB18 functions as a master regulator of a mesenchymal gene signature in GBM and that loss of ZBTB18 contributes to the highly invasive mesenchymal phenotype. Conversely, re-expression of ZBTB18 reverses the phenotype and impairs tumor-forming ability. Overall, our results support a tumor suppressor role of ZBTB18 in the brain and identify promoter hypermethylation as a mechanism to silence ZBTB18 in the mesenchymal subtype of GBM, which provides a new mechanistic opportunity to specifically target this tumor subclass.