Researchers identify epigenetic biomarker for breast cancer metastatic relapse

MD Anderson News Release March 04, 2025

Cancer cells that initiate metastasis at secondary sites often enter a dormant state, allowing them to evade treatment and later reawaken to form macroscopic lesions. To clarify the role of epigenetic pathways in this process, Jayanta Mondal, Ph.D., Jason Huse, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues used an in vivo epigenetic screen on models of breast cancer metastatic dormancy and recurrence. In this study, they identified Brd7 – which is involved in chromatin remodeling – as a critical epigenetic mediator of breast cancer dormancy in the lungs. Brd7 loss caused metastatic reawakening and created a tumor-promoting immune microenvironment – including neutrophils, CD8+ exhausted T cells and CD4+ stress response T cells – that promotes growth of lung metastases. Depleting neutrophils in vivo or employing immune checkpoint inhibition reversed these effects, highlighting potential therapeutic strategies to target the growth of metastases in the lungs. These findings also suggest specific epigenetic proteins, such as Brd7, can be used as prognostic biomarkers to predict metastatic relapse. Learn more in Nature Communications.