Freire Natália Hogetop, Herlinger Alice Laschuk, Vanini Julia, Dalmolin Matheus, Fernandes Marcelo A C, Nör Carolina, Ramaswamy Vijay, de Farias Caroline Brunetto, Brunetto André Tesainer, Brunetto Algemir Lunardi, Gregianin Lauro José, Jaeger Mariane da Cunha, Taylor Michael D, Roesler Rafael
Children's Cancer Institute (ICI), Porto Alegre 90620-110, RS, Brazil.
Cancer and Neurobiology Laboratory, Experimental Research Center, Clinical Hospital (CPE-HCPA), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 90035-003, RS, Brazil.
Cells. 2025 Jan 7;14(2):72. doi: 10.3390/cells14020072.
Changes in epigenetic processes such as histone acetylation are proposed as key events influencing cancer cell function and the initiation and progression of pediatric brain tumors. Valproic acid (VPA) is an antiepileptic drug that acts partially by inhibiting histone deacetylases (HDACs) and could be repurposed as an epigenetic anticancer therapy. Here, we show that VPA reduced medulloblastoma (MB) cell viability and led to cell cycle arrest. These effects were accompanied by enhanced H3K9 histone acetylation (H3K9ac) and decreased expression of the oncogene. VPA impaired the expansion of MB neurospheres enriched in stemness markers and reduced while increasing expression in these neurospheres. In addition, VPA induced morphological changes consistent with neuronal differentiation and the increased expression of differentiation marker genes and . The expression of stemness genes , , and was differentially affected by VPA in MB cells with different status. VPA increased H3K9 occupancy of the promoter region of . Among the genes regulated by VPA, the stemness regulators and showed an association with patient survival in specific MB subgroups. Our results indicate that VPA may exert antitumor effects in MB by influencing histone acetylation, which may result in the modulation of stemness, neuronal differentiation, and the expression of genes associated with patient prognosis in specific molecular subgroups. Importantly, the actions of VPA in MB cells and neurospheres include a reduction in the expression of and an increase in .
表观遗传过程的变化,如组蛋白乙酰化,被认为是影响癌细胞功能以及小儿脑肿瘤发生和发展的关键事件。丙戊酸(VPA)是一种抗癫痫药物,其部分作用机制是抑制组蛋白脱乙酰酶(HDACs),可被重新用作表观遗传抗癌疗法。在此,我们表明VPA降低了髓母细胞瘤(MB)细胞的活力并导致细胞周期停滞。这些效应伴随着H3K9组蛋白乙酰化(H3K9ac)增强和癌基因表达降低。VPA损害了富含干性标志物的MB神经球的扩增,并在这些神经球中降低了 表达,同时增加了 表达。此外,VPA诱导了与神经元分化一致的形态变化以及分化标志物基因 和 的表达增加。干性基因 、 和 的表达在具有不同 状态的MB细胞中受到VPA的不同影响。VPA增加了 启动子区域的H3K9占据率。在VPA调控的基因中,干性调节因子 和 在特定的MB亚组中与患者生存相关。我们的结果表明,VPA可能通过影响组蛋白乙酰化在MB中发挥抗肿瘤作用,这可能导致干性、神经元分化的调节以及特定分子亚组中与患者预后相关基因的表达变化。重要的是,VPA在MB细胞和神经球中的作用包括 表达的降低和 表达的增加。