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Metastasis is the leading cause of death of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Although an increasing number of studies have demonstrated the involvement of G3BP2 in several human cancers, how G3BP2 interacts with long noncoding RNAs and regulates mRNA transcripts in mediating ESCC metastasis remains unclear. In this study, we uncovered that G3BP2 was upregulated in ESCC. Further analysis revealed that upregulation of G3BP2 was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis, depth of tumor invasion and unfavorable outcomes in ESCC patients. Both in vitro and in vivo functional assays demonstrated that G3BP2 dramatically enhanced ESCC cell migration and invasion. Mechanistically, LINC01554 maintained the high G3BP2 expression in ESCC by protecting G3BP2 from degradation through ubiquitination and the interaction domains within LINC01554 and G3BP2 were identified. In addition, RNA-seq revealed that HDGF was regulated by G3BP2. G3BP2 bound to HDGF mRNA transcript to stabilize its expression. Ectopic expression of HDGF effectively abolished the G3BP2 depletion-mediated inhibitory effect on tumor cell migration. Intriguingly, introduction of compound C108 which can inhibit G3BP2 remarkedly suppressed ESCC cell metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, this study describes a newly discovered regulatory axis, LINC01554/G3BP2/HDGF, that facilitates ESCC metastasis and will provide novel therapeutic strategies for ESCC.

Hepatocarcinogenesis is attributed to the reprogramming of cellular metabolism as consequence of the alteration in metabolite-related gene regulation. Identifying the mechanism of aberrant metabolism is of great potential to provide novel targets for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we demonstrated that glycogen synthase 2 (GYS2) restricted tumor growth in HBV-related HCC via a negative feedback loop with p53.Expression of GYS2 was significantly downregulated in HCC and correlated with decreased glycogen content and unfavorable patient outcomes. GYS2 overexpression suppressed, whereas GYS2 knockdown facilitated cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo via modulating p53 expression. GYS2 competitively bound to MDM2 to prevent p53 from MDM2-mediated ubiquitination and degradation. Furthermore, GYS2 enhanced the p300-induced acetylation of p53 at K373/382, which in turn inhibited the transcription of GYS2 in the support of HBx/HDAC1 complex. In summary, our findings suggest that GYS2 serves as a prognostic factor and functions as a tumor suppressor in HCC. The newly identified HBx/GYS2/p53 axis is responsible for the deregulation of glycogen metabolism and represents a promising therapeutic target for the clinical management of HCC. SynopsisThis study elucidate the role of GYS2 in glycogen metabolism and the progression of HCC.The newly identified HBx/GYS2/p53 axis is responsible for the deregulation of glycogen metabolism and represents a promising therapeutic target for the clinical management of HCC.1. Decrease of GYS2 was significantly correlated with decreased glycogen content and unfavorable patient outcomes in a large cohort containing 768 patients with HCC.2. GYS2 overexpression suppressed, whereas GYS2 knockdown facilitated cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo via modulating p53 signaling pathway.3. GYS2 competitively bound to MDM2 to prevent p53 from MDM2-mediated ubiquitination and degradation. 4. GYS2 enhanced the p300-induced acetylation of p53 at Lys373/382, which in turn inhibited the transcription of GYS2 in the support of HBx/HDAC1 complex.