Anticancer Plant Secondary Metabolites Evicting Linker Histone H1.2 from Chromatin Activate Type I Interferon Signaling.

Previously we discovered that among 15 DNA-binding plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) possessing anticancer activity, 11 compounds cause depletion of the chromatin-bound linker histones H1.2 and/or H1.4. Chromatin remodeling or multiH1 knocking-down is known to promote the upregulation of repetitive elements, ultimately triggering an interferon (IFN) response. Herein, using HeLa cells and applying fluorescent reporter assay with flow cytometry, immunofluorescence staining and quantitative RT-PCR, we studied effects of PSMs both evicting linker histones from chromatin and not influencing their location in nucleus. We found that (1) 8 PSMs, evicting linker histone H1.2 from chromatin, activated significantly the type I IFN signaling pathway and out of these compounds resveratrol, berberine, genistein, delphinidin, naringenin and curcumin also caused expression. Fisetin and quercetin, which also induced linker histone H1.2 eviction from chromatin, significantly activated only type I IFN signaling, but not expression; (2) curcumin, sanguinarine and kaempferol, causing significant depletion of the chromatin-bound linker histone H1.4 but not significantly influencing H1.2 presence in chromatin, activate type I IFN signaling less intensively without any changes in expression; (3) four PSMs, which did not cause linker histone eviction, displayed neither IFN signaling activation nor enhancement of expression. Thus, we have shown for the first time that chromatin destabilization observed by depletion of chromatin-bound linker histone H1.2 caused by anticancer DNA-binding PSMs is accompanied by enhancement of type I IFN signaling, and that expression often impacts this activation.