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Updated: Jul 25, 2025
Defining Gene Functions in Tumorigenesis by Ex vivo Ablation of Floxed Alleles in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor Cells
Published on: August 25, 2021
SETDB1 tumour suppressor roles in near-haploid mesothelioma involve TP53
Mengting Xu1, Yuqing Tu1,2, Wenhui Bi1
1Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Silkworm Bioreactor and Biomedicine, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China.
Background:
Mutational inactivation of the SETDB1 histone methyltransferase is found in a subset of mesothelioma, particularly in cases with near-haploidy and TP53 mutations. However, the tumourigenic consequences of SETDB1 inactivation are poorly understood.
Methods:
In this study, we investigated SETDB1 tumour suppressor functions in mesothelioma and explored biologic relationships between SETDB1 and TP53.
Results:
Immunoblotting of early passage cultures showed that SETDB1 was undetectable in 7 of 8 near-haploid mesotheliomas whereas SETDB1 expression was retained in each of 13 near-diploid mesotheliomas. TP53 aberrations were present in 5 of 8 near-haploid mesotheliomas compared to 2 of 13 near-diploid mesotheliomas, and BAP1 inactivation was demonstrated only in near-diploid mesotheliomas, indicating that near-haploid and near-diploid mesothelioma have distinct molecular and biologic profiles. Lentiviral SETDB1 restoration in near-haploid mesotheliomas (MESO257 and MESO542) reduced cell viability, colony formation, reactive oxygen species levels, proliferative marker cyclin A expression, and inhibited growth of MESO542 xenografts. The combination of SETDB1 restoration with pemetrexed and/or cisplatin treatment additively inhibited tumour growth in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, SETDB1 restoration upregulated TP53 expression in MESO542 and MESO257, whereas SETDB1 knockdown inhibited mutant TP53 expression in JMN1B near-haploid mesothelioma cells. Likewise, TP53 knockdown inhibited SETDB1 expression. Similarly, immunoblotting evaluations of ten near-diploid mesothelioma biopsies and analysis of TCGA expression profiles showed that SETDB1 expression levels paralleled TP53 expression.
Conclusion:
These findings demonstrate that SETDB1 inactivation in near-haploid mesothelioma is generally associated with complete loss of SETDB1 protein expression and dysregulates TP53 expression. Targeting SETDB1 pathways could be an effective therapeutic strategy in these often untreatable tumours.
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