RNAi screening identifies KAT8 as a key molecule important for cancer cell survival.

Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) regulate many critical cancer events, including transcriptional regulation of oncogene and tumor suppressors, chromatin structure and DNA damage response. Abnormal expression of HATs has been reported in a number of cancers. However, cellular functions of HATs in cancer and molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here, we performed a lentiviral vector-mediated RNAi screen to systematically address the function of HATs in lung cancer cell growth and viability. We identified 8 HATs genes involved in A549 cell viability. Further experiments showed that KAT8 regulates G2/M cell cycle arrest through AKT/ERK-cyclin D1 signaling. Moreover, KAT8 inhibition led to p53 induction and subsequently reduced bcl-2 expression. Our results demonstrate an important role of KAT8 in cancer and suggest that KAT8 could be a novel cancer therapeutic target.