Silencing Lysine-Specific Histone Demethylase 1 (LSD1) Causes Increased HP1-Positive Chromatin, Stimulation of DNA Repair Processes, and Dysregulation of Proliferation by Chk1 Phosphorylation in Human Endothelial Cells

The methylation of histone lysine residues modifies chromatin conformation and regulates the expression of genes implicated in cell metabolism. Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) is a flavin-dependent monoamine oxidase that can demethylate mono- and dimethylated histone lysines 4 and 9 (H3K4 and H3K9). The removal of methyl groups from the lysine residues of histone and non-histone proteins was found to be an important regulatory factor of cell proliferation. However, its role has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we assessed LSD1-mediated cell cycle progression using a human endothelial cell model. The short hairpin RNA knockdown of LSD1 inhibits the G2/M phase of cell cycle progression by checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) phosphorylation (S137). We observed elevated DNA damage, which was consistent with the increased detection of double-strand breaks as well as purines and pyrimidines oxidation, which accompanied the activation of ATR/ATRIP signaling by H2AXS139 phosphorylation. The irreversible pharmacological inhibition of LSD1 by 2-phenylcyclopropylamine (2-PCPA) inactivated its enzymatic activity, causing significant changes in heterochromatin and euchromatin conformation assessed by chromatin assembly factor 1 subunit A (CAF1A) and heterochromatin protein 1 isoform α and γ (HP1α/γ) immunofluorescence analysis. We conclude that the knockdown of LSD1 in endothelial cells leads to increased HP1-positive chromatin, the stimulation of DNA repair processes, and the dysregulation of proliferation machinery.