OR07-1 Estrogen-regulated Enhancer RNAs Contain a Functional Motif that Controls Enhancer Assembly and Function in Breast Cancer Cells

Approximately 70% of breast cancers express estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), a hormone-regulated transcription factor. Upon binding to endogenous and exogenous ligands, ERα dimerizes and binds to regulatory regions across the genome known as enhancers. Enhancers act as nucleation sites for the recruitment of coregulatory proteins and ultimately regulate target gene transcription. We have previously used global run-on sequencing (GRO-seq) to detect transcription at active enhancers that generates enhancer RNAs (eRNAs). eRNAs are poorly characterized noncoding RNAs and are thought to regulate enhancer function and gene expression. To better understand the functions of these eRNAs, we annotated the estrogen-regulated eRNA transcriptome in ERα-positive breast cancer cells using precision nuclear run-on of capped RNA (PRO-cap) and polyA-depleted RNA-seq. We then cloned selected eRNAs, fused them to single guide RNAs, and targeted them to their ERα enhancers of origin using CRISPR/dCas9. eRNAs promoted expression of cognate, but not heterologous, target genes by increasing ERα recruitment and simulating p300-catalyzed H3K27 acetylation at the enhancer. We identified a ∼40 nucleotide functional eRNA regulatory motif (FERM) present in many estrogen-regulated eRNAs that is necessary and sufficient to promote gene expression by increasing ERα recruitment and stimulating p300-catalyzed H3K27 acetylation. The FERM interacted with BCAS2, an RNA-binding protein amplified in breast cancers, to exert its effect on enhancer assembly and dynamics. Overexpression of a targeted eRNA controlling expression of an oncogene increased cell proliferation, implicating eRNAs in regulating breast cancer cell growth. Together, we provide a genome-wide annotation of estrogen-regulated eRNAs, demonstrate the mechanisms by which targeted eRNAs promote target gene expression in vivo, identify the FERM element within eRNAs that is critical for regulating target gene expression, and show the biological implications of oncogenic eRNAs in breast cancer growth. Collectively, our results demonstrate the biological and mechanistic roles of eRNAs in breast cancer. This work is supported by grants from the NIH/NIDDK (DK058110) and CPRIT (RP160319) to W.L.K. Presentation: Saturday, June 11, 2022 11:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.