Nucleoli-localized KANSL2 as an epigenetic regulator of ribosome biogenesis in glioblastoma cells
KANSL2 is a subunit of the non-specific lethal (NSL) chromatin-modifying complex associated with glioblastoma (GBM) progression, but the intrinsic role of KANSL2 in GBM cells is poorly understood. By analyzing TCGA-GBM and GTEx datasets, we found that KANSL2 is upregulated in GBM and positively correlates with genes involved in ribosome biogenesis. Immunofluorescence and cell cycle analyses reveal a dynamic nuclear distribution, with KANSL2 becoming enriched in nucleoli mainly during G1/early S and G2 phases. Overexpression of KANSL2 increases 45S pre-rRNA and 28S rRNA levels, whereas its silencing reduces rRNA expression and histone H4 acetylation at lysines 5 and 8 within rDNA promoters. RNA-seq of patient-derived GBM spheroids confirms a global downregulation of ribosome biogenesis genes upon silencing of KANSL2. Together, these findings identify KANSL2 as a nuclear factor that transiently associates with nucleoli to promote rRNA transcription and ribosome biogenesis, supporting the biosynthetic and proliferative capacity of glioblastoma cells.
Authors
- Meike Wiese (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7476-5685)
- Sergio Senin
- Yilong Zhou
- Lucía Canedo
- Guillermo A. Videla-Richardson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0015-7687)
- Agustín E. Morellato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2750-720X)
- Sebastián A. Romano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1430-4633)
- Carolina Perez-Castro
- Nicolás Budnik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9629-8958)
- Asifa Akhtar
- Michael W. Graner
- Zdenek Andrysik
- Marina B. Cuenca
- Ken Kobayashi
- Martina Garmendia
Institutions
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Masaryk University (CZ)
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (ES)
- Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia (AR)
- Biomedicine Research Institute of Buenos Aires - CONICET - Partner Institute of the Max Planck Society (AR)
- Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular (AR)
- Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics (DE)
- University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (US)
- Fundación Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (AR)
- Experimental Medicine and Biology Institute (AR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Biology
- Published
- 2026-03-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09808-3
- Primary Topic
- Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
- Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica
- National Cancer Institute