Abstract A13: Genome-wide transcriptional analysis of HDAC inhibition-induced apoptosis in synovial sarcoma

Introduction: Conventional cytotoxic therapies for synovial sarcoma provide limited benefit, and no drugs specifically targeting its driving SS18-SSX fusion oncoprotein are currently available. HDAC inhibition has been shown in previous studies to disrupt the driving complex implicated in synovial sarcoma, resulting in apoptosis induction. Methods: Transcriptome analysis was undertaken in a panel of six human synovial sarcoma cell lines in order to uncover potential mechanisms of cell death following HDAC inhibition. By comparison studies with five additional publicly available related expression datasets, common class effects resulting from HDAC inhibition were investigated. Five human synovial sarcoma tumor samples were profiled by RNA-seq for comparison. A mouse model of synovial sarcoma was treated by HDAC inhibition and tumors were profiled for apoptotic markers. Results: Cell cycle arrest, differentiation, and response to oxygen-containing species and cell death were common biologic responses among the panel of post-HDAC inhibitor expression studies. Specific to synovial sarcoma, reactivation of repressed tumor suppressor CDKN2A and induction of proapoptotic transcriptional patterns results in apoptosis and decreased tumor burden in vivo. Conclusion: HDAC inhibition impedes SS18-SSX-mediated transcriptional deregulation, allowing for reactivation of normal cell cycle regulatory and apoptotic pathways. This study provides mechanistic support for a particular susceptibility of synovial sarcoma to HDAC inhibition as a means of potential clinical treatment. Citation Format: Aimee N. Laporte, Neal M. Poulin, Alireza Lorzadeh, Xiu Qing Wang, Ryan Vander werff, Jared J. Barrott, Michelle Moska, Christopher Hughes, Gregg Morin, Kevin B. Jones, Martin Hirst, T. Michael Underhill, Torsten O. Nielsen. Genome-wide transcriptional analysis of HDAC inhibition-induced apoptosis in synovial sarcoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Conference on Advances in Sarcomas: From Basic Science to Clinical Translation; May 16-19, 2017; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2018;24(2_Suppl):Abstract nr A13.