Raúl Muñoz Velasco, Paula Jiménez Sánchez, Ana García García, Raquel Blanco Martinez-Illescas, Ángela Pastor Senovilla, Marian Lozano Yagüe, Alfonsina Trento, Rosa María García-Martin, Diego Navarro, Bruno Sainz, José Luis Rodríguez Peralto, Víctor Javier Sánchez-Arévalo Lobo, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, and Comunidad de Madrid
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is characterized by an extremely poor prognosis due to its late diagnosis and strong chemoresistance to the current treatments. Therefore, finding new therapeutic targets is an urgent need nowadays. In this study, we report the role of the chromatin remodeler BPTF (Bromodomain PHD Finger Transcription Factor) as a therapeutic target in PDA. BPTF-silencing dramatically reduced cell proliferation and migration in vitro and in vivo in human and mouse PDA cell lines. Moreover, BPTF-silencing reduces the IC50 of gemcitabine in vitro and enhanced its therapeutic effect in vivo. Mechanistically, BPTF is required for c-MYC recruitment to the promoter of ABC-transporters and its downregulation facilitates gemcitabine accumulation in tumour cells, increases DNA damage, and a generates a strong synergistic effect in vivo. We show that BPTF is a therapeutic target in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma due to its strong effect on proliferation and in response to gemcitabine., This work was supported by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS PI18/01080), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), the ASEICA +QUEUNTRAIL award, and the Ayudas a la Investigacion UFV Grant (UFV2019-20) to VJSAL. Raúl Muñoz Velasco and Ana García were funded by Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (UFV). Paula Jiménez was funded by Programa de Empleo Juvenil (Comunidad de Madrid).