Abstract
Ewing sarcoma is a rare but aggressive disease most common in young adults. This cancer is driven by a unique chimeric fusion oncogene but targeted strategies have been elusive. Here we report the identification of the protein kinase PKC-ß (PRKCB) as a disease-specific druggable target for treatment of Ewing sarcoma. We found that transcriptional activation of PRKCB was directly regulated by the chimeric fusion oncogene EWSR1-FLI1 that drives this cancer. PRKCB phosphorylated histone H3T6 to permit global maintenance of H3K4 trimethylation at a variety of gene promoters. PRKCB loss induced apoptosis in vitro and prevented tumor growth in vivo. Gene expression profiling revealed a strong overlap between genes modulated by EWSR1-FLI1 and PRKCB in regulating crucial signaling pathways. Taken together, our findings offer a preclinical proof-of-concept for PRKCB as a promising therapeutic target in Ewing sarcoma.
©2012 AACR.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / genetics
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Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
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Cell Line, Tumor
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Cell Survival / genetics
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Female
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Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
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Gene Silencing
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Histones / metabolism
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Humans
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Male
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Mice
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Mice, Nude
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Mice, SCID
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Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / genetics
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Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / metabolism*
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Phosphorylation
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Protein Kinase C / genetics*
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Protein Kinase C / metabolism
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Protein Kinase C beta
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Proto-Oncogene Protein c-fli-1 / genetics
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Proto-Oncogene Protein c-fli-1 / metabolism*
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RNA Interference
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RNA-Binding Protein EWS
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RNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
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RNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
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Sarcoma, Ewing / genetics*
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Sarcoma, Ewing / metabolism*
Substances
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Calmodulin-Binding Proteins
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EWSR1 protein, human
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EWSR1-FLI1 fusion protein, human
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Histones
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Oncogene Proteins, Fusion
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Proto-Oncogene Protein c-fli-1
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RNA-Binding Protein EWS
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RNA-Binding Proteins
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Protein Kinase C
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Protein Kinase C beta