Effects of NSD2 depletion on gene expression and H3K36me2 in a lung cancer cell line. Homo sapiens

The histone methyltransferase NSD2/WHSC1/MMSET is overexpressed in a number of solid tumors but its contribution to the biology of these tumors is not well understood. Here, we describe that NSD2 contributes to the proliferation of a subset of lung cancer cell lines by supporting oncogenic RAS transcriptional responses. Co-treatment with MEK and BRD4 inhibitors causes co-operative inhibitory responses on cell growth. While these inhibitors converge in the downregulation of genes associated with cancer-acquired super-enhancers, NSD2 inhibition complements their action by affecting the expression of clusters of genes embedded in megabase-scale regions marked with H3K36me2. Thus, combinatorial therapies using MEK or BRD4 inhibitors together with NSD2 inhibition ensure a more comprehensive inhibition of oncogenic RAS-driven transcription programs. Overall design: H1299 cells were transduced with doxycycline (dox) inducible shRNAs (sh3 or sh5) againts NSD2 and with non target shRNA (shNT). Changes in gene expression (RNA-seq) and H3K36me2 (ChIP-seq) caused by depletion of NSD2 and indicated treatments were assessed. Two replicates (Rep) for RNA-seq and three replicates for ChIP-seq were included.