Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Sensitizes ERCC1-High Non-small-Cell Lung Cancer Cells to Cisplatin via Regulating miR-149

• Main Authors: Yuwen He, Danyang Chen, Yanmei Yi, Shanshan Zeng, Shuang Liu, Pan Li, Hui Xie, Pengjiu Yu, Guanmin Jiang, Hao Liu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-06-01
• Series: Molecular Therapy: Oncolytics
• Subjects: NSCLC; HDACi; cisplatin resistance; ERCC1; miR-149
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2372770520300644

Resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy becomes a major obstacle in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment. Overexpression of the excision repair cross-complementing 1 (ERCC1) gene is reported to negatively influence the effectiveness of cisplatin-based therapy for NSCLC cells. In this study, we confirm that high ERCC1 expression correlates with cisplatin resistance in NSCLC cells. Importantly, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) re-sensitize ERCC1-high NSCLC cells to cisplatin both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, the HDACi induces the expression of miR-149 by acetylation and activation of E2F1, which directly targets ERCC1 and inhibits ERCC1 expression. Inhibition of miR-149 reverses the promotion effect of HDACis on cisplatin-induced DNA damage and cell apoptosis in ERCC1-high NSCLC cells. In conclusion, this study reveals a novel mechanism by which HDACis re-sensitizes ERCC1-high NSCLC cells to cisplatin via regulation of the E2F1/miR-149/ERCC1 axis, and we propose that combination of HDACis and cisplatin might hold promise to be a more effective therapeutic paradigm for ERCC1-high NSCLCs.