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Tangudu NK, Buj R, Wang H, Wang J, Cole AR, Uboveja A, Fang R, Amalric A, Yang B, Chatoff A, Crispim CV, Sajjakulnukit P, Lyons MA, Cooper K, Hempel N, Lyssiotis CA, Chandran UR, Snyder NW, Aird KM. De Novo Purine Metabolism is a Metabolic Vulnerability of Cancers with Low p16 Expression. Cancer Res Commun 2024; 4:1174-1188. [PMID: 38626341 PMCID: PMC11064835 DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.crc-23-0450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/18/2024]
Abstract
p16 is a tumor suppressor encoded by the CDKN2A gene whose expression is lost in approximately 50% of all human cancers. In its canonical role, p16 inhibits the G1-S-phase cell cycle progression through suppression of cyclin-dependent kinases. Interestingly, p16 also has roles in metabolic reprogramming, and we previously published that loss of p16 promotes nucleotide synthesis via the pentose phosphate pathway. However, the broader impact of p16/CDKN2A loss on other nucleotide metabolic pathways and potential therapeutic targets remains unexplored. Using CRISPR knockout libraries in isogenic human and mouse melanoma cell lines, we determined several nucleotide metabolism genes essential for the survival of cells with loss of p16/CDKN2A. Consistently, many of these genes are upregulated in melanoma cells with p16 knockdown or endogenously low CDKN2A expression. We determined that cells with low p16/CDKN2A expression are sensitive to multiple inhibitors of de novo purine synthesis, including antifolates. Finally, tumors with p16 knockdown were more sensitive to the antifolate methotrexate in vivo than control tumors. Together, our data provide evidence to reevaluate the utility of these drugs in patients with p16/CDKN2Alow tumors as loss of p16/CDKN2A may provide a therapeutic window for these agents. SIGNIFICANCE Antimetabolites were the first chemotherapies, yet many have failed in the clinic due to toxicity and poor patient selection. Our data suggest that p16 loss provides a therapeutic window to kill cancer cells with widely-used antifolates with relatively little toxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naveen Kumar Tangudu
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Raquel Buj
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Hui Wang
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Jiefei Wang
- Department of Biomedical Informatics and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Aidan R. Cole
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Apoorva Uboveja
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Richard Fang
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Amandine Amalric
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Baixue Yang
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Beijing, P.R. China
| | - Adam Chatoff
- Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Aging + Cardiovascular Discovery Center, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Claudia V. Crispim
- Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Aging + Cardiovascular Discovery Center, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Peter Sajjakulnukit
- Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Maureen A. Lyons
- Genomics Facility, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Kristine Cooper
- Biostatistics Facility, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Nadine Hempel
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Costas A. Lyssiotis
- Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Uma R. Chandran
- Department of Biomedical Informatics and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Nathaniel W. Snyder
- Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Aging + Cardiovascular Discovery Center, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Katherine M. Aird
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Sottnik JL, Shackleford MT, Robinson SK, Villagomez FR, Bahnassy S, Oesterreich S, Hu J, Madak-Erdogan Z, Riggins RB, Corr BR, Cook LS, Treviño LS, Bitler BG, Sikora MJ. WNT4 Regulates Cellular Metabolism via Intracellular Activity at the Mitochondria in Breast and Gynecologic Cancers. Cancer Res Commun 2024; 4:134-151. [PMID: 38112643 PMCID: PMC10793200 DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.crc-23-0275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Wnt ligand WNT4 is critical in female reproductive tissue development, with WNT4 dysregulation linked to related pathologies including breast cancer (invasive lobular carcinoma, ILC) and gynecologic cancers. WNT4 signaling in these contexts is distinct from canonical Wnt signaling yet inadequately understood. We previously identified atypical intracellular activity of WNT4 (independent of Wnt secretion) regulating mitochondrial function, and herein examine intracellular functions of WNT4. We further examine how convergent mechanisms of WNT4 dysregulation impact cancer metabolism. In ILC, WNT4 is co-opted by estrogen receptor α (ER) via genomic binding in WNT4 intron 1, while in gynecologic cancers, a common genetic polymorphism (rs3820282) at this ER binding site alters WNT4 regulation. Using proximity biotinylation (BioID), we show canonical Wnt ligand WNT3A is trafficked for secretion, but WNT4 is localized to the cytosol and mitochondria. We identified DHRS2, mTOR, and STAT1 as putative WNT4 cytosolic/mitochondrial signaling partners. Whole metabolite profiling, and integrated transcriptomic data, support that WNT4 mediates metabolic reprogramming via fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. Furthermore, ovarian cancer cell lines with rs3820282 variant genotype are WNT4 dependent and have active WNT4 metabolic signaling. In protein array analyses of a cohort of 103 human gynecologic tumors enriched for patient diversity, germline rs3820282 genotype is associated with metabolic remodeling. Variant genotype tumors show increased AMPK activation and downstream signaling, with the highest AMPK signaling activity in variant genotype tumors from non-White patients. Taken together, atypical intracellular WNT4 signaling, in part via genetic dysregulation, regulates the distinct metabolic phenotypes of ILC and gynecologic cancers. SIGNIFICANCE WNT4 regulates breast and gynecologic cancer metabolism via a previously unappreciated intracellular signaling mechanism at the mitochondria, with WNT4 mediating metabolic remodeling. Understanding WNT4 dysregulation by estrogen and genetic polymorphism offers new opportunities for defining tumor biology, precision therapeutics, and personalized cancer risk assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph L. Sottnik
- Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | | | - Sydney K. Robinson
- Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Fabian R. Villagomez
- Division of Reproductive Sciences, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Shaymaa Bahnassy
- Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Steffi Oesterreich
- Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Junxiao Hu
- Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource, University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Zeynep Madak-Erdogan
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Cancer Center at Illinois, Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois
| | - Rebecca B. Riggins
- Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Bradley R. Corr
- Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Linda S. Cook
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Lindsey S. Treviño
- Depratment of Population Sciences, Division of Health Equities, City of Hope, Duarte, California
| | - Benjamin G. Bitler
- Division of Reproductive Sciences, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
| | - Matthew J. Sikora
- Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado
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Lombardi S, Goldman AR, Tang HY, Kossenkov AV, Liu H, Zhou W, Herlyn M, Lin J, Zhang R. Targeting Fatty Acid Reprogramming Suppresses CARM1-expressing Ovarian Cancer. Cancer Res Commun 2023; 3:1067-1077. [PMID: 37377614 PMCID: PMC10281290 DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.crc-23-0030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
The arginine methyltransferase CARM1 exhibits high expression levels in several human cancers, with the trend also observed in ovarian cancer. However, therapeutic approaches targeting tumors that overexpress CARM1 have not been explored. Cancer cells exploit metabolic reprogramming such as fatty acids for their survival. Here we report that CARM1 promotes monounsaturated fatty acid synthesis and fatty acid reprogramming represents a metabolic vulnerability for CARM1-expressing ovarian cancer. CARM1 promotes the expression of genes encoding rate-limiting enzymes of de novo fatty acid metabolism such as acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) and fatty acid synthase (FASN). In addition, CARM1 upregulates stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) that produces monounsaturated fatty acid by desaturation. Thus, CARM1 enhances de novo fatty acids synthesis which was subsequently utilized for synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids. Consequently, inhibition of SCD1 suppresses the growth of ovarian cancer cells in a CARM1 status-dependent manner, which was rescued by the addition of monounsaturated fatty acids. Consistently, CARM1-expressing cells were more tolerant to the addition of saturated fatty acids. Indeed, SCD1 inhibition demonstrated efficacy against ovarian cancer in both orthotopic xenograft and syngeneic mouse models in a CARM1-dependent manner. In summary, our data show that CARM1 reprograms fatty acid metabolism and targeting SCD1 through pharmacological inhibition can serve as a potent therapeutic approach for CARM1-expressing ovarian cancers. Significance CARM1 reprograms fatty acid metabolism transcriptionally to support ovarian cancer growth by producing monounsaturated fatty acids, supporting SCD1 inhibition as a rational strategy for treating CARM1-expressing ovarian cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simona Lombardi
- Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Aaron R. Goldman
- Molecular and Cellular Oncology Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Hsin-Yao Tang
- Molecular and Cellular Oncology Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Andrew V. Kossenkov
- Gene Expression and Regulation Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Heng Liu
- Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Wei Zhou
- Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Meenhard Herlyn
- Molecular and Cellular Oncology Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Jianhuang Lin
- Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Rugang Zhang
- Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Department of Experimental Therapeutics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
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Adeyemi RO. Transcription and DNA repair collide after UV exposure. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2303201120. [PMID: 37036973 PMCID: PMC10120015 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2303201120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/12/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Richard O. Adeyemi
- Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA98109
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Patel M, Wang Y, Bartom ET, Dhir R, Nephew KP, Matei D, Murmann AE, Lengyel E, Peter ME. The Ratio of Toxic-to-Nontoxic miRNAs Predicts Platinum Sensitivity in Ovarian Cancer. Cancer Res 2021; 81:3985-4000. [PMID: 34224372 PMCID: PMC8338879 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-21-0953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Ovarian cancer remains one of the deadliest gynecologic malignancies affecting women, and development of resistance to platinum remains a major barrier to achieving a cure. Multiple mechanisms have been identified to confer platinum resistance. Numerous miRNAs have been linked to platinum sensitivity and resistance in ovarian cancer. miRNA activity occurs mainly when the guide strand of the miRNA, with its seed sequence at position 2-7/8, is loaded into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and targets complementary short seed matches in the 3' untranslated region of mRNAs. Toxic 6mer seeds, which target genes critical for cancer cell survival, have been found in tumor-suppressive miRNAs. Many siRNAs and short hairpin RNAs (shRNA) can also kill cancer cells via toxic seeds, the most toxic of which carry G-rich 6mer seed sequences. We showed here that treatment of ovarian cancer cells with platinum led to increased RISC-bound miRNAs carrying toxic 6mer seeds and decreased miRNAs with nontoxic seeds. Platinum-tolerant cells did not exhibit this toxicity shift but retained sensitivity to cell death mediated by siRNAs carrying toxic 6mer seeds. Analysis of RISC-bound miRNAs in tumors from patients with ovarian cancer revealed that the ratio between miRNAs with toxic versus nontoxic seeds was predictive of treatment outcome. Application of the 6mer seed toxicity concept to cancer relevant miRNAs provides a new framework for understanding and predicting cancer therapy responses. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings demonstrate that the balance of miRNAs that carry toxic and nontoxic 6mer seeds contributes to platinum resistance in ovarian cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monal Patel
- Department of Medicine/Division Hematology/Oncology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Yinu Wang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Elizabeth T Bartom
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Rohin Dhir
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology/Section of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Kenneth P Nephew
- Medical Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Bloomington, Indiana
| | - Daniela Matei
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Andrea E Murmann
- Department of Medicine/Division Hematology/Oncology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Ernst Lengyel
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology/Section of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Marcus E Peter
- Department of Medicine/Division Hematology/Oncology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
- Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chicago, Illinois
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