Regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis by CTCF and H3K27 methylation is critical for cell migration

CTCF is a key factor in three-dimensional chromatin folding and transcriptional control that was found to affect cancer cell migration by a mechanism that is still poorly understood. To identify this mechanism, we used mouse melanoma cells with a partial loss of function (pLoF) of CTCF. We found that CTCF pLoF inhibits cell migration rate while leading to an increase in the expression of multiple enzymes in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway along with an elevation in the cellular cholesterol level. In agreement with the cholesterol change we detected altered membrane dynamics in CTCF pLoF cells as measured by reduced formation of migrasomes, extracellular vesicles formed at the rear side of migrating cells. Inhibition of cholesterol synthesis in CTCF pLoF cells restored the cellular migration rate and migrasome formation, suggesting that CTCF supports cell migration by suppressing cholesterol synthesis. Detailed analysis of the promoter of Hmgcs1, an early enzyme in the cholesterol synthesis pathway, revealed that CTCF prevents formation of a loop between that promoter and another promoter 200 kb away. CTCF also supports PRC2 recruitment to the promoter and deposition of H3K27me3. H3K27me3 at the promoter of Hmgcs1 prevents SREBP2 binding and activation of transcription. By this mechanism, CTCF fine-tunes cholesterol levels to support cell migration. Notably, genome wide association studies suggest a link between CTCF and cholesterol-associated diseases, thus CTCF emerges as a new regulator of cholesterol biosynthesis.