Super-enhancers and efficacy of triptolide in small cell carcinoma of the ovary hypercalcemic type

Summary: Small cell carcinoma of the ovary-hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT) is a rare ovarian cancer affecting young females and is driven by the loss of both SWI/SNF ATPases SMARCA4 and SMARCA2. As loss of SWI/SNF alters enhancers, we hypothesized that super-enhancers, which regulate oncogene expression...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jessica D. Lang, William Selleck, Shawn Striker, Nicolle A. Hipschman, Rochelle Kofman, Anthony N. Karnezis, Felix K.F. Kommoss, Friedrich Kommoss, Jae Rim Wendt, Salvatore J. Facista, William P.D. Hendricks, Krystal A. Orlando, Patrick Pirrotte, Elizabeth A. Raupach, Victoria L. Zismann, Yemin Wang, David G. Huntsman, Bernard E. Weissman, Jeffrey M. Trent
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-02-01
Series:iScience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422500029X
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Summary: Small cell carcinoma of the ovary-hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT) is a rare ovarian cancer affecting young females and is driven by the loss of both SWI/SNF ATPases SMARCA4 and SMARCA2. As loss of SWI/SNF alters enhancers, we hypothesized that super-enhancers, which regulate oncogene expression in cancer, are disparately impacted by SWI/SNF loss. We discovered differences between SWI/SNF occupancy at enhancers vs. super-enhancers. SCCOHT super-enhancer target genes were enriched in developmental processes, most notably nervous system development. This may further support neuronal cell-of-origin previously proposed. We found high sensitivity of SCCOHT cell lines to triptolide. Triptolide inhibits expression of many super-enhancer-associated genes, including oncogenes. SALL4 expression is decreased by triptolide and is highly expressed in SCCOHT tumors. In patient-derived xenograft models, triptolide and prodrug minnelide effectively inhibit tumor growth. These results reveal unique features of super-enhancers in SCCOHT, which may be one mechanism through which triptolide has high activity in these tumors.
ISSN:2589-0042