Silencing or inhibition of H3K79 methyltransferase DOT1L induces cell cycle arrest by epigenetically modulating c-Myc expression in colorectal cancer

Background: Epigenetic regulations play pivotal roles in tumorigenesis and cancer development. Disruptor of telomeric silencing-1-like (DOT1L), also known as KMT4, is the only identified histone methyltransferase that catalyzes the mono-, di-, and tri-methylation of lysine 79 histone 3 (H3K79). However, little is known about the effect of H3K79 methylation on the modulation of colorectal cancer (CRC) development. Methods: DOT1L expression profiles in different subgroups of CRC tissues and its clinical significances were analyzed from some online datasheets. DOT1L in CRC cell lines was silenced by either lentivirus-mediated knockdown or inhibited by its specific inhibitor, EPZ004777. Then cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay, BrdU assay, and soft agar assay; cell cycle was detected by cytometry; and tumorigenicity was detected by using nude mice xenograft models. Clinical co-expression was analyzed between DOT1L and c-Myc. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay was used to determine whether the translation of c-Myc was epigenetically regulated by H3K79me2 induced by DOT1L. c-Myc overexpression was used to rescue the cell cycle arrest and tumor growth induced by DOT1L silencing or inhibition in CRC. Results: We found that DOT1L was highly expressed in colorectal cancer and was negatively related to the prognosis of patients with CRC. Silencing or inhibition of DOT1L blocked cell proliferation, BrdU incorporation, self-renewal capability in vitro, and tumorigenicity in vivo. Besides, inhibition or silencing of DOT1L also induced cell cycle arrest at S phase, as well as decreased the expression of CDK2 and Cyclin A2. Furthermore, in the clinical databases of CRC, we found that the expression of DOT1L was positively correlated with that of c-Myc, a major regulator in the upstream of cell cycle-related factors. Besides, c-Myc expression was downregulated after DOT1L knockdown and c-Myc restoration rescued decrease of cell proliferation, BrdU corporation, self-renewal capability, cell cycle progression in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo induced by DOT1L silencing. Then we found that H3K79 methylation was decreased after DOT1L knockdown. ChIP assay showed that H3K79me2 was enriched on the -682 similar to+ 284 region of c-Myc promoter, and the enrichment was decreased after DOT1L inhibition. Conclusions: Our results show that DOT1L epigenetically promotes the transcription of c-Myc via H3K79me2. DOT1L silencing or inhibition induces cell cycle arrest at S phase. DOT1L is a potential marker for colorectal cancer and EPZ004777 may be a potential drug for the treatment of colorectal cancer.