Recurrent Superenhancer of the Oncogene POU5F1B in Colorectal Cancers

Superenhancer usages in single cancer form such as colorectal cancer (CRC) may provide novel efficient targeting candidates. It is unclear whether CRC contains recurrent superenhancers that confer a predisposition to malignancy. We investigated the superenhancer profile of CRC cell line HCT116 and compared it to that of a healthy sigmoid colon. We found that HCT116 had lost most of the normal colon superenhancer activities but gained a new set of tumor-favoring superenhancers that facilitate tumor proliferation, growth signalling, and hypoxia resistance. Inhibiting the superenhancers by JQ-1 treatment had significantly decreased the colony formation capability of HCT116. Then, by comparing the superenhancer genes and robust CRC upregulated genes, we identified a superenhancer associated with a common CRC upregulated oncogene, POU5f1B. POU5f1B overexpression is related to the worse outcome in CRCs. Via performing ChIP-PCR in 35 clinical samples and investigating CRC anti-H3K27ac ChiP-seq public dataset consisting of 36 samples, we further identified that the superenhancer of oncogene POU5F1B is recurrently activated in CRCs, taking 62 and 72 per cent, respectively. Moreover, JQ-1 treatment successfully inhibited the POU5F1B expression in 5 out of 6 POU5F1B superenhancer-positive samples. Therefore, we concluded that the superenhancer activation of POU5F1B contributes partially to its high expression in CRCs, in addition to the well-known gene amplification aetiology.