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Accurate modeling of intratumor heterogeneity presents a bottleneck against drug testing. Flexibility in a preclinical platform is also desirable to support assessment of different endpoints. We established the model system, OHC-NB1, from a bone marrow metastasis from a patient diagnosed with MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma and performed whole-exome sequencing on the source metastasis and the different models and passages during model development (monolayer cell line, 3D spheroid culture and subcutaneous xenograft tumors propagated in mice). OHC-NB1 harbors a MYCN amplification in double minutes, 1p deletion, 17q gain and diploid karyotype, which persisted in all models. A total of 80-540 single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) was detected in each sample, and comparisons between the source metastasis and models identified 34 of 80 somatic SNVs to be propagated in the models. Clonal reconstruction using the combined copy number and SNV data revealed marked clonal heterogeneity in the originating metastasis, with four clones being reflected in the model systems. The set of OHC-NB1 models represents 43% of somatic SNVs and 23% of the cellularity in the originating metastasis with varying clonal compositions, indicating that heterogeneity is partially preserved in our model system., (© 2019 The Authors. International Journal of Cancer published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of UICC.)

The number of long-term survivors of high-risk neuroblastoma remains discouraging, with 10-year survival as low as 20%, despite decades of considerable international efforts to improve outcome. Major obstacles remain and include managing resistance to induction therapy, which causes tumor progression and early death in high-risk patients, and managing chemotherapy-resistant relapses, which can occur years after the initial diagnosis. Identifying and validating novel therapeutic targets is essential to improve treatment. Delineating and deciphering specific functions of single histone deacetylases in neuroblastoma may support development of targeted acetylome-modifying therapeutics for patients with molecularly defined high-risk neuroblastoma profiles. We show here that HDAC11 depletion in MYCN-driven neuroblastoma cell lines strongly induces cell death, mostly mediated by apoptotic programs. Genes necessary for mitotic cell cycle progression and cell division were most prominently enriched in at least two of three time points in whole-genome expression data combined from two cell systems, and all nine genes in these functional categories were strongly repressed, including CENPA, KIF14, KIF23 and RACGAP1. Enforced expression of one selected candidate, RACGAP1, partially rescued the induction of apoptosis caused by HDAC11 depletion. High-level expression of all nine genes in primary neuroblastomas significantly correlated with unfavorable overall and event-free survival in patients, suggesting a role in mediating the more aggressive biological and clinical phenotype of these tumors. Our study identified a group of cell cycle-promoting genes regulated by HDAC11, being both predictors of unfavorable patient outcome and essential for tumor cell viability. The data indicate a significant role of HDAC11 for mitotic cell cycle progression and survival of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells, and suggests that HDAC11 could be a valuable drug target.

Neuroblastoma is an embryonic solid tumor of neural crest origin and accounts for 11% of all cancer-related deaths in children. Novel therapeutic strategies are therefore urgently required. MYCN oncogene amplification, which occurs in 20% of neuroblastomas, is a hallmark of high risk. Here, we aimed to exploit molecular mechanisms that can be pharmacologically addressed with epigenetically modifying drugs, such as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. Grainyhead-like 1 (GRHL1), a gene critical for Drosophila neural development, belonged to the genes most strongly responding to HDAC inhibitor treatment of neuroblastoma cells in a genome-wide screen. An increase in the histone H4 pan-acetylation associated with its promoter preceded transcriptional activation. Physically adjacent, HDAC3 and MYCN colocalized to the GRHL1 promoter and repressed its transcription. High-level GRHL1 expression in primary neuroblastomas correlated on transcriptional and translational levels with favorable patient survival and established clinical and molecular markers for favorable tumor biology, including lack of MYCN amplification. Enforced GRHL1 expression in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells with low endogenous GRHL1 levels abrogated anchorage-independent colony formation, inhibited proliferation, and retarded xenograft growth in mice. GRHL1 knockdown in MYCN single-copy cells with high endogenous GRHL1 levels promoted colony formation. GRHL1 regulated 170 genes genome-wide, and most were involved in pathways regulated during neuroblastomagenesis, including nervous system development, proliferation, cell-cell adhesion, cell spreading, and cellular differentiation. In summary, the data presented here indicate a significant role of HDAC3 in the MYCN-mediated repression of GRHL1 and suggest drugs that block HDAC3 activity and suppress MYCN expression as promising candidates for novel treatment strategies of high-risk neuroblastoma., (©2014 AACR.)