Ewing sarcomas (ES) are highly malignant bone or soft tissue tumors. Genetically, ES are defined by balanced chromosomal EWS/ETS translocations, which give rise to chimeric proteins (EWS-ETS) that generate an oncogenic transcriptional program associated with altered epigenetic marks throughout the genome. By use of an inhibitor (JQ1) blocking BET bromodomain binding proteins (BRDs) we strikingly observed a strong down-regulation of the predominant EWS-ETS protein EWS-FLI1 in a dose dependent manner. This was further enhanced by co-treatment with an inhibitor of the PI3K pathway. Microarray analysis further revealed JQ1 treatment to block a typical ES associated expression program. The effect on this expression program was mimicked by RNA interference with BRD3 or BRD4 expression, indicating that the EWS-FLI1 mediated expression profile is at least in part mediated via such epigenetic readers. Consequently, contact dependent and independent proliferation of different ES lines was strongly inhibited. Mechanistically, treatment of ES resulted in a partial arrest of the cell cycle as well as induction of apoptosis. Tumor development was suppressed dose dependently in a xeno-transplant model in immune deficient mice, overall indicating that ES may be susceptible to treatment with epigenetic inhibitors blocking BET bromodomain activity and the associated pathognomonic EWS-ETS transcriptional program.

Establishment and differentiation of mammary alveoli during pregnancy are controlled by prolactin through the transcription factors STAT5A and STAT5B (STAT5), which also regulate temporal activation of mammary signature genes. This study addressed the question whether the methyltransferase and transcriptional co-activator EZH2 controls the differentiation clock of mammary epithelium. Ablation of Ezh2 from mammary stem cells resulted in precocious differentiation of alveolar epithelium during pregnancy and the activation of mammary-specific STAT5 target genes. This coincided with enhanced occupancy of these loci by STAT5, EZH1 and RNA Pol II. Limited activation of differentiation-specific genes was observed in mammary epithelium lacking both EZH2 and STAT5, suggesting a modulating but not mandatory role for STAT5. Loss of EZH2 did not result in overt changes in genome-wide and gene-specific H3K27me3 profiles, suggesting compensation through enhanced EZH1 recruitment. Differentiated mammary epithelia did not form in the combined absence of EZH1 and EZH2. Transplantation experiments failed to demonstrate a role for EZH2 in the activity of mammary stem and progenitor cells. In summary, while EZH1 and EZH2 serve redundant functions in the establishment of H3K27me3 marks and the formation of mammary alveoli, the presence of EZH2 is required to control progressive differentiation of milk secreting epithelium during pregnancy.

Ewing sarcomas (ES) are highly malignant, osteolytic bone or soft tissue tumors, which are characterized by EWS–ETS translocations and early metastasis to lung and bone. In this study, we investigated the role of the BRICHOS chaperone domain‐containing endochondral bone protein chondromodulin I (CHM1) in ES pathogenesis. CHM1 is significantly overexpressed in ES, and chromosome immunoprecipitation (ChIP) data demonstrate CHM1 to be directly bound by an EWS–ETS translocation, EWS‐FLI1. Using RNA interference, we observed that CHM1 promoted chondrogenic differentiation capacity of ES cells but decreased the expression of osteolytic genes such as HIF1A,IL6,JAG1, and VEGF. This was in line with the induction of the number of tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP +)‐stained osteoclasts in an orthotopic model of local tumor growth after CHM1 knockdown, indicating that CHM1‐mediated inhibition of osteomimicry might play a role in homing, colonization, and invasion into bone tissues. We further demonstrate that CHM1 enhanced the invasive potential of ES cells in vitro. This invasiveness was in part mediated via CHM1‐regulated matrix metallopeptidase 9 expression and correlated with the observation that, in an xenograft mouse model, CHM1 was essential for the establishment of lung metastases. This finding is in line with the observed increase in CHM1 expression in patient specimens with ES lung metastases. Our results suggest that CHM1 seems to have pleiotropic functions in ES, which need to be further investigated, but appears to be essential for the invasive and metastatic capacities of ES.