Epigenetic drug screening identifies enzyme inhibitors A-196 and TMP-269 as novel regulators of sprouting angiogenesis.

Beter M., Pulkkinen HH., Örd T., Sormunen A., Kilpeläinen L., Dunford JE., Kaikkonen MU., Aavik E., Laham-Karam N., Oppermann U., Laakkonen JP., Ylä-Herttuala S.

Epigenetic therapy has gained interest in treating cardiovascular diseases, but preclinical studies often encounter challenges with cell-type-specific effects or batch-to-batch variation, which have limited identification of novel drug candidates targeting angiogenesis. To address these limitations and improve the reproducibility of epigenetic drug screening, we redesigned a 3D in vitro fibrin bead assay to utilize immortalized human aortic endothelial cells (TeloHAECs) and screened a focused compound library with 105 agents. Compared to the established model using primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells, TeloHAECs needed a higher-density fibrin gel for optimal sprouting, successfully forming sprouts under both normoxic and hypoxic cell culture conditions. We identified two epigenetic enzyme inhibitors as novel regulators of sprouting angiogenesis: A196, a selective SUV4-20H1/H2 inhibitor, demonstrated pro-angiogenic effects through increased H4K20me1 levels and upregulation of cell cycle associated genes, including MCM2 and CDK4. In contrast TMP-269, a selective class IIa HDAC inhibitor, exhibited anti-angiogenic effects by downregulating angiogenesis-related proteins and upregulating pro-inflammatory signaling. These findings highlight the suitability of the modified TeloHAEC fibrin bead assay for drug screening purposes and reveal both pro-angiogenic and anti-angiogenic drug candidates with therapeutic potential.

DOI

10.1038/s41598-024-84603-w

Type

Journal article

Publication Date

2025-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Volume

15

Keywords

A-196, Angiogenesis, Epigenetic screening, Epigenetic therapy, TMP-269, TeloHAEC fibrin bead assay, Humans, Epigenesis, Genetic, Neovascularization, Physiologic, Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells, Drug Evaluation, Preclinical, Endothelial Cells, Enzyme Inhibitors, Angiogenesis Inhibitors, Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors, Angiogenesis

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