Reprogramming of Cellular Plasticity via ETS and MYC Core-regulatory Circuits During Response to MAPK Inhibition in BRAF-mutant Colorectal Cancer.

Abstract

Purpose: Aberrant enhancer dynamics play a critical role in the initiation and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC), particularly in the BRAFV600E-mutated metastatic subtype, which uniquely exhibits a strong epigenetic phenotype. Building on this epigenetic vulnerability, bromodomain 2, a reader of H3K27ac-marked enhancers, was found to be synthetically lethal with BRAF + EGFR inhibition.

Experimental design: We evaluated the effectiveness of targeting aberrant enhancers with bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) + MAPK pathway inhibitors in patient-derived xenograft models of metastatic CRC, followed by comprehensive transcriptomic and chromatin profiling.

Results: BET plus standard MAPK inhibitors demonstrated improved efficacy against BRAFV600E CRC and selective improvements against RAS-mutant CRC in vivo. This combination induced a more profound downregulation of the MAPK signaling pathway than MAPK inhibition alone. The loss of activation signal on H3K27ac-marked enhancers led to the dysregulation of core-regulatory circuitries, especially the MAPK downstream E26 transformation-specific transcription factor family and MYC. Single-nucleus RNA+ATAC sequencing distinguished differential transcriptomic and chromatin dynamics at the cell-type level. Profound downregulation of well-differentiated cell types confirmed deep inhibition of MAPK signaling and downstream transcription factors. Conversely, an abundance of dedifferentiated cell populations emerged after MAPK or combination inhibition, suggesting therapy-induced cell-state switching and adaptation.

Conclusion: Our work demonstrates that BET inhibition improves MAPK signaling blockade through profound epigenetic reprogramming of core transcription factor circuits. These findings provide a preclinical rationale for the evaluation of BET + BRAF + EGFR inhibition in patients with treatment-refractory BRAFV600E metastatic CRC (NCT06102902).