Enhanced histone H3 acetylation of the PD-L1 promoter via the COP1/c-Jun/HDAC3 axis is required for PD-L1 expression in drug-resistant cancer cells

Background: Drug resistance is a major obstacle to treating cancers because it desensitizes cancer cells to chemotherapy. Recently, attention has been focused on changes in the tumor immune landscape after the acquisition of drug resistance. Programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) is an immune suppressor that inhibits T cell-based immunity. Evidence has shown that acquired chemoresistance is associated with increased PD-L1 expression in cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanism is still largely unknown.

Methods: PD-L1 expression in three drug-resistant A549/CDDP, MCF7/ADR and HepG2/ADR cell lines was detected by qRT-PCR, western blotting and flow cytometry, and a T cell proliferation assay was performed to test its functional significance. Then, the potential roles of JNK/c-Jun, histone H3 acetylation, histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) and the E3 ligase COP1 in the PD-L1 increase were explored through ChIP assays and gain- and loss-of-function gene studies. Furthermore, murine xenograft tumor models were used to verify the role of JNK/c-Jun and HDAC3 in PD-L1 expression in A549/CDDP cells in vivo. Finally, the correlations of PD-L1, c-Jun and HDAC3 expression in clinical cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Results: PD-L1 expression was significantly increased in A549/CDDP, MCF7/ADR and HepG2/ADR cells and was attributed mainly to enhanced JNK/c-Jun signaling activation. Mechanistically, decreased COP1 increased c-Jun accumulation, which subsequently inhibited HDAC3 expression and thereby enhanced histone H3 acetylation of the PD-L1 promoter. Furthermore, PD-L1 expression could be inhibited by JNK/c-Jun inhibition or HDAC3 overexpression in vivo, which could largely reverse inhibited CD3⁺ T cell proliferation in vitro. PD-L1 expression was significantly increased in the cisplatin-resistant clinical NSCLC samples and positively correlated with c-Jun expression but negatively correlated with HDAC3 expression.

Conclusions: Enhanced histone H3 acetylation of the PD-L1 promoter via the COP1/c-Jun/HDAC3 axis was crucial for the PD-L1 increase in drug-resistant cancer cells. Our study reveals a novel regulatory network for the PD-L1 increase in drug-resistant cancer cells and that combined PD-L1-targeting strategies could improve T cell-based immunity in drug-resistant cancers.