Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40299558›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of clinical investigation2025

DNA demethylating agents suppress preclinical models of synovial sarcoma.

Nobuhiko Hasegawa, Nezha S Benabdallah, Kyllie Smith-Fry, Li Li, Sarah McCollum, Jinxiu Li, Caelen A Jones, Lena Wagner, Vineet Dalal, Viola Golde and 8 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of clinical investigation, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. A Bioinformatics and Wet-Lab-Based Pipeline IdentifiesInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. The Dual Role ofBiology · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors.

Nobuhiko HasegawaDepartment of Orthopaedics.
Nezha S BenabdallahHopp Children's Cancer Center, Heidelberg (KiTZ) Heidelberg, Germany.
Kyllie Smith-FryDepartment of Orthopaedics.
Li LiDepartment of Orthopaedics.
Sarah McCollumDepartment of Orthopaedics.
Jinxiu LiDepartment of Orthopaedics.
Caelen A JonesDepartment of Orthopaedics.
Lena WagnerHopp Children's Cancer Center, Heidelberg (KiTZ) Heidelberg, Germany.
Vineet DalalHopp Children's Cancer Center, Heidelberg (KiTZ) Heidelberg, Germany.
Viola GoldeHopp Children's Cancer Center, Heidelberg (KiTZ) Heidelberg, Germany.
Anastasija PejkovskaHopp Children's Cancer Center, Heidelberg (KiTZ) Heidelberg, Germany.
Lara CarrollDepartment of Orthopaedics.
Malay HaldarDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Seth M PollackDepartment of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Scott W LoweCancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, New York, New York, USA.
Torsten O NielsenDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Ana BanitoHopp Children's Cancer Center, Heidelberg (KiTZ) Heidelberg, Germany.
Kevin B JonesDepartment of Orthopaedics.

Funding

X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHYP30CA008748 · NCI · SLOAN-KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RES · PI SELWYN M VICKERS · 1985 to 2026
$347.4M
Targeting SS18-SSX biology in synovial sarcomagenesisU54CA231652 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI JONES, KEVIN BRUCE · 2018 to 2022
$12.0M
NCI NIH HHS P30 CA008748NCI NIH HHS U54 CA231652
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Synovial sarcoma is an aggressive soft-tissue cancer driven by the chimeric SS18::SSX fusion oncoprotein, which disrupts chromatin remodeling by combining two antagonistic transcriptional regulators. SS18 participates in BAF complexes that open chromatin, while the SSX genes are cancer-testis antigens that interface with chromatin decorated with monoubiquitinated histone H2A placed by polycomb repressive complex activity. Because KDM2B brings polycomb repressive complex to unmethylated CpG islands, it is plausible that methylation directly determines the distribution of SS18::SSX to target loci. Given that synovial sarcoma is also characterized by a peculiarly low DNA hypomethylation profile, we hypothesized that further disturbance of DNA methylation would have a negative impact on synovial sarcoma growth. DNMT1 disruption by CRISPR/Cas9 targeting or pharmacological inhibition with cytidine analogs 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (decitabine) and 5-azacytidine led to decreased genome-wide methylation, redistribution of SS18::SSX, and altered gene expression profiles, most prominently including upregulation of tumor suppressor genes, immune-related genes, and mesenchymal differentiation-related genes. These drugs suppressed growth of synovial sarcoma cell lines and drove cytoreduction in mouse genetic models. DNMT1 inhibitors, already approved for treating myelodysplastic syndromes, warrant further clinical investigation for synovial sarcoma as repurposed, targeted treatments exploiting a vulnerability in the intrinsic biology of this cancer.

Indexed as

DecitabineDNA MethylationSarcoma, SynovialAnimalsAzacitidineCell Line, TumorDNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase 1HumansMiceNeoplasm ProteinsOncogene Proteins, FusionAzacitidineDecitabineDNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase 1DNMT1 protein, humanDnmt1 protein, mouseNeoplasm ProteinsOncogene Proteins, FusionSS18-SSX1 fusion proteinCancerEpigeneticsExpression profilingGeneticsOncology

Identifiers

PMID40299558
PMCPMC12208545

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.