Terminal differentiation failure is an important cause of rhabdomyosarcoma genesis, however, little is known about the epigenetic regulation of aberrant myogenic differentiation. Here, we show that GATA-4 recruits polycomb group proteins such as EZH2 to negatively regulate miR-29a in undifferentiated C2C12 myoblast cells, whereas recruitment of GRIP-1 to GATA-4 proteins displaces EZH2, resulting in the activation of miR-29a during myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells. Moreover, in poorly differentiated rhabdomyosarcoma cells, EZH2 still binds to the miR-29a promoter with GATA-4 to mediate transcriptional repression of miR-29a. Interestingly, once re-differentiation of rhabdomyosarcoma cells toward skeletal muscle, EZH2 was dispelled from miR-29a promoter which is similar to that in myogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells. Eventually, this expression of miR-29a results in limited rhabdomyosarcoma cell proliferation and promotes myogenic differentiation. We thus establish that GATA-4 can function as a molecular switch in the up- and downregulation of miR-29a expression. We also demonstrate that GATA-4 acts as a tumor suppressor in rhabdomyosarcoma partly via miR-29a, which thus provides a potential therapeutic target for rhabdomyosarcoma.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.