Dominant CIZ1 fragments drive epigenetic instability and are expressed in early stage cancers

CIZ1 is a nuclear matrix protein that is part of the large RNA-dependent supramolecular assembly complexes (SMACs) that form at the inactive X chromosome (Xi) in female cells, and smaller assemblies throughout the nucleus in males and females. It plays a role in maintenance of epigenetic state and gene expression in differentiated cells, via stabilisation of histone post-translational modifications H2AK119ub1 and H3K27me3, added by polycomb repressive complexes (PRC) 1 and 2. Here, we show that expression of the N-terminal replication domain (RD) and C-terminal anchor domain (AD) of human CIZ1 transcript is uncoupled, with consistently elevated AD in early stage breast cancers, and sporadically elevated AD in other common solid tumours. At the protein level CIZ1-Xi SMACs are corrupted in female breast cancers cells, and this is accompanied by elevated AD-encoding transcripts. We modelled the effect of AD fragments in primary murine embryonic fibroblasts and observed dominant-negative interference with CIZ1 SMACs during their assembly in early G1 phase. Mutagenesis identified the matrin 3 homology domain as essential for self-interaction to form stable homodimers in vitro , and as a determinant of its dominant-negative effect in cells, implicating the dimerization interface in CIZ1 SMAC integrity. SMAC disruption was coincident with depletion of PRC1-dependent H2AK119ub1 from Xi chromatin, in a manner abrogated by the PR-deubiquitinase inhibitor PR619, suggesting that CIZ1 SMACs normally stabilise H2AK119ub1 by shielding Xi chromatin from attack by deubiquitinases. Moreover, SMAC disruption was accompanied by changes in gene expression within days. Together, the data suggest that inappropriate expression of CIZ1 AD fragments could drive epigenetic instability in early stage breast cancers by destabilizing the CIZ1 SMACs that normally protect repressed chromatin. ![Figure][1] ### Competing Interest Statement DC and JA are founders and shareholders in Cizzle Biotechnology Ltd, which part funded the research. Other authors disclosed no potential conflicts of interest. [1]: pending:yes