ZMYND8 promotes the Warburg effect and tumorigenesis through c-Myc activation in pancreatic cancer.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a digestive tract tumour with an extremely poor patient prognosis and prominent metabolic abnormalities. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying metabolic reprogramming in the progression of pancreatic cancer remain poorly understood. Here, we employed an epigenetic siRNA library to identify a crucial regulator, ZMYND8, which is involved in glycolysis in PC cells. ZMYND8 was frequently overexpressed in both PC tissues and cell lines, and its elevated expression was significantly correlated with poor overall survival in patients with PC. The high rates of glucose uptake and lactate secretion conferred by ZMYND8 revealed an abnormal activity of aerobic glycolysis in PC cells. Functional studies revealed that ZMYND8 significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of PC cells. Integrated analyses of CUT&Tag and RNA-seq data revealed that ZMYND8 may activate c-Myc transcriptional activity by modulating downstream epigenetic regulatory pathways. Proteomic profiling and coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assays further demonstrated a direct physical interaction between ZMYND8 and c-Myc. Mechanistic studies revealed that ZMYND8 interacted with and activated c-Myc, thereby promoting the Warburg effect and facilitating PC cell malignancy. Moreover, in vivo studies revealed that overexpression of ZMYND8 resulted in accelerated tumour growth in PC xenografts, which was reversible through the knockdown of c-Myc or treatment with 2-deoxy-D-glucose. Collectively, our data suggest that ZMYND8 functions as a critical metabolic regulator in PC cells by tightly regulating c-Myc activity and may represent a promising novel therapeutic target for advanced pancreatic cancer treatment.