SMARCA5 links histone lactylation to metabolic reprogramming and immune evasion

However, the functional role of this histone mark in cancers remains largely unexplored, partly due to a lack of knowledge about its reader proteins. Here, we identify SMARCA5 as a bona fide effector of H3K18la.

Transcriptomics, metabolomics and epigenetics analyses reveal numerous SMARCA5 target genes, enriched for metabolic regulators including HK2, PFKM, and LDHA. We further demonstrate that SMARCA5 facilitates glycolytic activity by recruiting MYC to the promoters of glycolytic genes. Elevated lactate derived from tumor glycolysis similarly increases H3K18la levels in CD8+ T cells and induces inhibitory receptor expression.