NSD2 is a requisite subunit of the AR/FOXA1 neo-enhanceosome in promoting prostate tumorigenesis

Abstract

Androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-responsive transcription factor that drives terminal differentiation of the prostatic luminal epithelia. By contrast, in tumors originating from these cells, AR chromatin occupancy is extensively reprogrammed to activate malignant phenotypes, the molecular mechanisms of which remain unknown. Here, we show that tumor-specific AR enhancers are critically reliant on H3K36 dimethyltransferase activity of NSD2. NSD2 expression is abnormally induced in prostate cancer, where its inactivation impairs AR transactivation potential by disrupting over 65% of its cistrome. NSD2-dependent AR sites distinctively harbor the chimeric FOXA1:AR half-motif, which exclusively comprise tumor-specific AR enhancer circuitries defined from patient specimens. NSD2 inactivation also engenders increased dependency on the NSD1 paralog, and a dual NSD1/2 PROTAC degrader is preferentially cytotoxic in AR-dependent prostate cancer models. Altogether, we characterize NSD2 as an essential AR neo-enhanceosome subunit that enables its oncogenic activity, and position NSD1/2 as viable co-targets in advanced prostate cancer. CRISPR screen identifies coactivators of the androgen receptor (AR) complex, including NSD2. NSD2 contributes to AR cistrome reprogramming during prostate cancer progression, and its degradation via a novel PROTAC reduces prostate cancer cell viability in vitro.