Chidamide inhibits double expressor lymphoma through repressing Myc expression and activity

Double-expressor lymphoma (DEL), defined by MYC and BCL-2 overexpression without corresponding chromosome translocations, is often associated with poor outcomes for standard treatment (R-CHOP). Recently, inhibitors of histone deacetylases have shown great effect in T cell lymphomas. However, its effects on B cell lymphomas are mild. Here, our clinical retrospective analysis showed that HDAC inhibitor chidamide combined with R-CHOP (CR-CHOP) can dramatically increase the complete remission rate of patients with DEL. And the sensitivity of B cell lymphoma cell lines to chidamide is negatively correlated to Myc level. From Western blots and transcriptomics analysis, we found that chidamide treatment could reduce Myc protein level and downregulate the transcription levels of corresponding Myc downstream targets. Thus our results indicate that HDAC inhibitor chidamde holds great potential for treating DEL, which likely functions through inhibiting the Myc pathway. Overall design: Bulk RNA-seq of JeKo-1/Granta-519 lymphoma cell line treated with Chidamide or vehicle