Abstract
Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours (MPNSTs), which develop sporadically or from neurofibromatosis, recur frequently with high metastatic potential and poor outcome. The polycomb group protein enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2) is an important regulator for various human malignancies. However, the function of EZH2 in MPNSTs is unknown. Here we report that the EZH2-miR-30d-KPNB1 signalling pathway is critical for MPNST tumour cell survival in vitro and tumourigenicity in vivo. Up-regulated EZH2 in MPNST inhibits miR-30d transcription via promoter binding activity, leading to enhanced expression of the nuclear transport receptor KPNB1 that is inhibited by miR-30d targeting of KPNB1 3' UTR region. Furthermore, inhibition of EZH2 or KPNB1, or miR-30d over-expression, induces MPNST cell apoptosis in vitro and suppresses tumourigenesis in vivo. More importantly, forced over-expression of KPNB1 rescues MPNST cell apoptosis induced by EZH2 knockdown. Immunohistochemical analyses show that EZH2 and KPNB1 over-expression is observed in human MPNST specimens and is negatively associated with miR-30d expression. Our findings identify a novel signalling pathway involved in MPNST tumourigenesis, and also suggest that EZH2-miR-30d-KPNB1 signalling represents multiple potential therapeutic targetable nodes for MPNST.