bims-mecami 2023-01-29 papers

bims-mecami

Biomed News

on Metabolic interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment

Issue of 2023‒01‒29
eight papers selected by
Linda Chan
Cleveland Clinic

Inhibition of autophagy and MEK promotes ferroptosis in Lkb1-deficient Kras-driven lung tumors.
Metabolic rewiring in MYC-driven medulloblastoma by BET-bromodomain inhibition.
Single-cell transcriptome analysis reveals heterogeneity and convergence of the tumor microenvironment in colorectal cancer.
Dopamine inhibits group 2 innate lymphoid cell-driven allergic lung inflammation by dampening mitochondrial activity.
Chromatin complex dependencies reveal targeting opportunities in leukemia.
Mitochondrial SENP2 regulates the assembly of SDH complex under metabolic stress.
NAD+ supplementation limits triple-negative breast cancer metastasis via SIRT1-P66Shc signaling.
Structural basis of mammalian respiratory complex I inhibition by medicinal biguanides.

Cell Death Dis. 2023 Jan 26. 14(1): 61

Inhibition of autophagy and MEK promotes ferroptosis in Lkb1-deficient Kras-driven lung tumors.

Vrushank Bhatt, Taijin Lan, Wenping Wang, Jerry Kong, Eduardo Cararo Lopes, Jianming Wang, Khoosheh Khayati, Akash Raju, Michael Rangel, Enrique Lopez, Zhixian Sherrie Hu, Xuefei Luo, Xiaoyang Su, Jyoti Malhotra, Wenwei Hu, Sharon R Pine, Eileen White, Jessie Yanxiang Guo.

LKB1 and KRAS are the third most frequent co-mutations detected in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and cause aggressive tumor growth. Unfortunately, treatment with RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK pathway inhibitors has minimal therapeutic efficacy in LKB1-mutant KRAS-driven NSCLC. Autophagy, an intracellular nutrient scavenging pathway, compensates for Lkb1 loss to support Kras-driven lung tumor growth. Here we preclinically evaluate the possibility of autophagy inhibition together with MEK inhibition as a treatment for Kras-driven lung tumors. We found that the combination of the autophagy inhibitor hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and the MEK inhibitor Trametinib displays synergistic anti-proliferative activity in KrasG12D/+;Lkb1-/- (KL) lung cancer cells, but not in KrasG12D/+;p53-/- (KP) lung cancer cells. In vivo studies using tumor allografts, genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) and patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) showed anti-tumor activity of the combination of HCQ and Trametinib on KL but not KP tumors. We further found that the combination treatment significantly reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, basal respiration, and ATP production, while also increasing lipid peroxidation, indicative of ferroptosis, in KL tumor-derived cell lines (TDCLs) and KL tumors compared to treatment with single agents. Moreover, the reduced tumor growth by the combination treatment was rescued by ferroptosis inhibitor. Taken together, we demonstrate that autophagy upregulation in KL tumors causes resistance to Trametinib by inhibiting ferroptosis. Therefore, a combination of autophagy and MEK inhibition could be a novel therapeutic strategy to specifically treat NSCLC bearing co-mutations of LKB1 and KRAS.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-023-05592-8
Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 23. 13(1): 1273

Metabolic rewiring in MYC-driven medulloblastoma by BET-bromodomain inhibition.

Vittoria Graziani, Aida Rodriguez Garcia, Lourdes Sainero Alcolado, Adrien Le Guennec, Marie Arsenian Henriksson, Maria R Conte.

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant brain tumour in children. High-risk MB patients harbouring MYC amplification or overexpression exhibit a very poor prognosis. Aberrant activation of MYC markedly reprograms cell metabolism to sustain tumorigenesis, yet how metabolism is dysregulated in MYC-driven MB is not well understood. Growing evidence unveiled the potential of BET-bromodomain inhibitors (BETis) as next generation agents for treating MYC-driven MB, but whether and how BETis may affect tumour cell metabolism to exert their anticancer activities remains unknown. In this study, we explore the metabolic features characterising MYC-driven MB and examine how these are altered by BET-bromodomain inhibition. To this end, we employed an NMR-based metabolomics approach applied to the MYC-driven MB D283 and D458 cell lines before and after the treatment with the BETi OTX-015. We found that OTX-015 triggers a metabolic shift in both cell lines resulting in increased levels of myo-inositol, glycerophosphocholine, UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, glycine, serine, pantothenate and phosphocholine. Moreover, we show that OTX-015 alters ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, inositol phosphate metabolism, phosphatidylinositol signalling system, glycerophospholipid metabolism, ether lipid metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, and glycine, serine and threonine metabolism pathways in both cell lines. These insights provide a metabolic characterisation of MYC-driven childhood MB cell lines, which could pave the way for the discovery of novel druggable pathways. Importantly, these findings will also contribute to understand the downstream effects of BETis on MYC-driven MB, potentially aiding the development of new therapeutic strategies to combat medulloblastoma.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-27375-z
Front Immunol. 2022 ;13 1003419

Single-cell transcriptome analysis reveals heterogeneity and convergence of the tumor microenvironment in colorectal cancer.

Siyuan Xie, Yangke Cai, Delong Chen, Yu Xiang, Wen Cai, Jianshan Mao, Jun Ye.

  Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks second for mortality and third for morbidity among the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide. We aimed to investigate the heterogeneity and convergence of tumor microenvironment (TME) in CRC.Methods: We analyzed the single-cell RNA sequencing data obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and identified 8 major cell types and 25 subgroups derived from tumor, para-tumor and peripheral blood.
Results: In this study, we found that there were significant differences in metabolic patterns, immunophenotypes and transcription factor (TF) regulatory patterns among different subgroups of each major cell type. However, subgroups manifested similar lipid metabolic patterns, immunosuppressive functions and TFs module at the end of the differentiation trajectory in CD8+ T cells, myeloid cells and Fibroblasts. Meanwhile, TFs regulated lipid metabolism and immunosuppressive ligand-receptor pairs were detected by tracing the differentiation trajectory. Based on the cell subgroup fractions calculated by CIBERSORTx and bulk RNA-sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we constructed an immune risk model and clinical risk model of CRC which presented excellent prognostic value.
Conclusion: This study identified that the differentiation was accompanied by remodeling of lipid metabolism and suppression of immune function, which suggest that lipid remodeling may be an important trigger of immunosuppression. More importantly, our work provides a new perspective for understanding the heterogeneity and convergence of the TME and will aid the development of prognosis and immunotherapies of CRC patients.

Keywords:  CIBERSORTx; ScRNA-seq; colorectal cancer; prognosis; tumor microenvironment

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1003419
Immunity. 2023 Jan 18. pii: S1074-7613(22)00675-6. [Epub ahead of print]

Dopamine inhibits group 2 innate lymphoid cell-driven allergic lung inflammation by dampening mitochondrial activity.

Yingjiao Cao, Yu Li, Xiangyang Wang, Shaorui Liu, Yongmei Zhang, Gaoyu Liu, Shusen Ye, Yuhao Zheng, Jiacong Zhao, Xiaodong Zhu, Yingying Chen, Haixu Xu, Dingyun Feng, Dubo Chen, Ling Chen, Wangkai Liu, Wenjie Zhou, Zhi Zhang, Pan Zhou, Kai Deng, Lilin Ye, Ying Yu, Zhi Yao, Qiang Liu, Heping Xu, Jie Zhou.

  Neuronal signals have emerged as pivotal regulators of group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) that regulate tissue homeostasis and allergic inflammation. The molecular pathways underlying the neuronal regulation of ILC2 responses in lungs remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we found that the abundance of neurotransmitter dopamine was negatively correlated with circulating ILC2 numbers and positively associated with pulmonary function in humans. Dopamine potently suppressed lung ILC2 responses in a DRD1-receptor-dependent manner. Genetic deletion of Drd1 or local ablation of dopaminergic neurons augmented ILC2 responses and allergic lung inflammation. Transcriptome and metabolic analyses revealed that dopamine impaired the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway in ILC2s. Augmentation of OXPHOS activity with oltipraz antagonized the inhibitory effect of dopamine. Local administration of dopamine alleviated allergen-induced ILC2 responses and airway inflammation. These findings demonstrate that dopamine represents an inhibitory regulator of ILC2 responses in allergic airway inflammation.

Keywords:  DRD1; allergic airway inflammation; dopamine; group 2 innate lymphoid cells; neuroimmune interaction

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2022.12.017
Nat Commun. 2023 Jan 27. 14(1): 448

Chromatin complex dependencies reveal targeting opportunities in leukemia.

Fadi J Najm, Peter DeWeirdt, Molly M Moore, Samantha M Bevill, Chadi A El Farran, Kevin A Macias, Mudra Hegde, Amanda L Waterbury, Brian B Liau, Peter van Galen, John G Doench, Bradley E Bernstein.

Chromatin regulators are frequently mutated in human cancer and are attractive drug targets. They include diverse proteins that share functional domains and assemble into related multi-subunit complexes. To investigate functional relationships among these regulators, here we apply combinatorial CRISPR knockouts (KOs) to test over 35,000 gene-gene pairings in leukemia cells, using a library of over 300,000 constructs. Top pairs that demonstrate either compensatory non-lethal interactions or synergistic lethality enrich for paralogs and targets that occupy the same protein complex. The screen highlights protein complex dependencies not apparent in single KO screens, for example MCM histone exchange, the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex, and HBO1 (KAT7) complex. We explore two approaches to NuRD complex inactivation. Paralog and non-paralog combinations of the KAT7 complex emerge as synergistic lethal and specifically nominate the ING5 PHD domain as a potential therapeutic target when paired with other KAT7 complex member losses. These findings highlight the power of combinatorial screening to provide mechanistic insight and identify therapeutic targets within redundant networks.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36150-7
Cell Rep. 2023 Jan 27. pii: S2211-1247(23)00052-9. [Epub ahead of print]42(2): 112041

Mitochondrial SENP2 regulates the assembly of SDH complex under metabolic stress.

Ying Liu, Kejia Liu, Rick F Thorne, Ronghua Shi, Qingyuan Zhang, Mian Wu, Lianxin Liu.

  Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) is a heterotetrameric enzyme complex belonging to the mitochondrial respiratory chain and uniquely links the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle with oxidative phosphorylation. Cancer-related SDH mutations promote succinate accumulation, which is regarded as an oncometabolite. Post-translational modifications of SDH complex components are known to regulate SDH activity, although the contribution of SUMOylation remains unclear. Here, we show that SDHA is SUMOylated by PIAS3 and deSUMOylated by SENP2, events dictating the assembly and activity of the SDH complex. Moreover, CBP acetylation of SENP2 negatively regulates its deSUMOylation activity. Under glutamine deprivation, CBP levels decrease, and the ensuing SENP2 activation and SDHA deSUMOylation serve to concurrently dampen the TCA cycle and electron transport chain (ETC) activity. Along with succinate accumulation, this mechanism avoids excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production to promote cancer cell survival. This study elucidates a major function of mitochondrial-localized SENP2 and expands our understanding of the role of SUMOylation in resolving metabolic stress.

Keywords:  CP: Cancer; CP: Metabolism; PTMs; SENP2; SUMOylation; TCA cycle; acetylation; metabolic stress; mitochondria; oxidative phosphorylation; succinate dehydrogenase

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112041
Oncogene. 2023 Jan 23.

NAD+ supplementation limits triple-negative breast cancer metastasis via SIRT1-P66Shc signaling.

Yi Jiang, Zongrui Luo, Yuanchao Gong, Yan Fu, Yongzhang Luo.

NAD+ levels decline with age and in certain disease conditions. NAD+ precursors have been shown to stimulate NAD+ biosynthesis and ameliorate various age-associated diseases in mouse models. However, NAD+ metabolism is complicated in cancer and its role in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains elusive. Here, we show that NAD+ supplement suppresses tumor metastasis in a TNBC orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model. Sirtuin1 lysine deacetylase (SIRT1) is required for the effects since SIRT1 knockdown blocks NAD+-suppressed tumor metastasis. Overexpression of SIRT1 effectively impairs the metastatic potential of TNBC. Importantly, the interaction between SIRT1 and p66Shc causes the deacetylation and functional inactivation of p66Shc, which inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Overall, we demonstrate that NAD+ supplementation executes its anti-tumor function via activating the SIRT1-p66Shc axis, which highlights the preventive and therapeutic potential of SIRT1 activators as effective interventions for TNBC.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-023-02592-y
Science. 2023 Jan 27. 379(6630): 351-357

Structural basis of mammalian respiratory complex I inhibition by medicinal biguanides.

Hannah R Bridges, James N Blaza, Zhan Yin, Injae Chung, Michael N Pollak, Judy Hirst.

The molecular mode of action of biguanides, including the drug metformin, which is widely used in the treatment of diabetes, is incompletely characterized. Here, we define the inhibitory drug-target interaction(s) of a model biguanide with mammalian respiratory complex I by combining cryo-electron microscopy and enzyme kinetics. We interpret these data to explain the selectivity of biguanide binding to different enzyme states. The primary inhibitory site is in an amphipathic region of the quinone-binding channel, and an additional binding site is in a pocket on the intermembrane-space side of the enzyme. An independent local chaotropic interaction, not previously described for any drug, displaces a portion of a key helix in the membrane domain. Our data provide a structural basis for biguanide action and enable the rational design of medicinal biguanides.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade3332