Disruption of NSD1 in head and neck cancer promotes favorable chemotherapeutic responses linked to hypomethylation

Human papillomavirus (HPV) negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) represents a distinct classification of cancer with poor expected outcomes. Of the 11 genes recurrently mutated in HNSCC, we identify a singular and substantial survival advantage for mutations in the gene encoding Nuclear Set Domain Containing Protein 1 (NSD1), a histone methyltransferase altered in approximately 10% of patients. This effect, a 55% decrease in risk of death in NSD1-mutated versus non-mutated patients, can be validated in an independent cohort. NSD1 alterations are strongly associated with widespread genome hypomethylation in the same tumors, to a degree not observed for any other mutated gene. To address whether NSD1 plays a causal role in these associations, we use CRISPR-Cas9 to disrupt NSD1 in HNSCC cell lines and find that this leads to substantial CpG hypomethylation and sensitivity to cisplatin, a standard chemotherapy in head and neck cancer, with a 40 - 50% decrease in IC50. Such results are reinforced by a survey of 1,001 cancer cell lines, in which loss-of-function NSD1 mutations have an average 23% decrease in cisplatin IC50 compared to cell lines with wild type NSD1. This study identifies a favorable subtype of head and neck cancer linked to NSD1 mutation, hypomethylation and cisplatin sensitivity.

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