DNA Methylatransferase Inhibition Prevents Platinum-Induced Ovarian Cancer Stem Cell Enrichment [Cut & Run]

Platinum combined with DNMTi decreased STAT3 activation, while still inducing NF-κB activation. Knockdown experiments demonstrated that the presence of both NF-κB and STAT3 was necessary for platinum-induced OCSC enrichment. Analysis of STAT3 and NF-κB subunit p65 CUT&RUN data showed increased binding in introns and intergenic regions in response to platinum.

Additionally, DNMTi enriched NF-κB binding at endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which correlated with changes in expression of nearby genes when DNMTi was combined with platinum. We conclude that combining DNMTi with platinum modulates STAT3 and NF-κB activation and genomic binding, potentially influencing target gene expression and preventing platinum-induced enrichment of OCSCs.