IntroductionRemodeling of cellular metabolism appears to be a consequence and possibly a cause of oncogenic transformation in human cancers. Specific aspects of altered tumor metabolism may be amenable to therapeutic intervention and could be coordinated with other targeted therapies. In breast cancer, the genetic landscape has been defined most comprehensively in efforts such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). However, little is known about how alterations of tumor metabolism correlate with this landscape.MethodsIn total 25 cancers (23 fully analyzed by TCGA) and 5 normal breast specimens were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, quantitating 399 identifiable metabolites.ResultsWe found strong differences correlated with hormone receptor status with 18% of the metabolites elevated in estrogen receptor negative (ER-) cancers compared to estrogen receptor positive (ER+) including many glycolytic and glycogenolytic intermediates consistent with increased Warburg effects. Glutathione (GSH) pathway components were also elevated in ER- tumors consistent with an increased requirement for handling higher levels of oxidative stress. Additionally, ER- tumors had high levels of the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG) and the immunomodulatory tryptophan metabolite kynurenine. Kynurenine levels were correlated with the expression of tryptophan-degrading enzyme (IDO1). However, high levels of 2-HG were not associated with somatic mutations or expression levels of IDH1 or IDH2. BRCA1 mRNA levels were positively associated with coenzyme A, acetyl coenzyme A, and GSH and negatively associated with multiple lipid species, supporting the regulation of ACC1 and NRF2 by BRCA1. Different driver mutations were associated with distinct patterns of specific metabolites, such as lower levels of several lipid-glycerophosphocholines in tumors with mutated TP53. A strong metabolomic signature associated with proliferation rate was also observed; the metabolites in this signature overlap broadly with metabolites that define ER status as receptor status and proliferation rate were correlated.ConclusionsThe addition of metabolomic profiles to the public domain TCGA dataset provides an important new tool for discovery and hypothesis testing of the genetic regulation of tumor metabolism. Particular sets of metabolites may reveal insights into the metabolic dysregulation that underlie the heterogeneity of breast cancer.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13058-014-0415-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Ferroptosis is a specialized iron-dependent cell death that is associated with lethal lipid peroxidation. Modulation of ferroptosis may have therapeutic potential since it has been implicated in various human diseases as well as potential antitumor activities. However, much remains unknown about the underlying mechanisms and genetic determinants of ferroptosis. Given the critical role of kinases in most biological processes and the availability of various kinase inhibitors, we sought to systemically identify kinases essential for ferroptosis. We performed a forward genetic-based kinome screen against ferroptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells triggered by cystine deprivation. This screen identified 34 essential kinases involved in TNFα and NF-kB signaling. Unexpectedly, the DNA damage response serine/threonine kinase ATM (mutated in Ataxia-Telangiectasia) was found to be essential for ferroptosis. The pharmacological or genetic inhibition of ATM consistently rescued multiple cancer cells from ferroptosis triggered by cystine deprivation or erastin. Instead of the canonical DNA damage pathways, ATM inhibition rescued ferroptosis by increasing the expression of iron regulators involved in iron storage (ferritin heavy and light chain, FTH1 and FTL) and export (ferroportin, FPN1). The coordinated changes of these iron regulators during ATM inhibition resulted in a lowering of labile iron and prevented the irondependent ferroptosis. Furthermore, we found that ATM inhibition enhanced the nuclear translocation of metal-regulatory transcription factor 1 (MTF1), responsible for regulating expression of Ferritin/FPN1 and ferroptosis protection. Genetic depletion of MTF-1 abolished the regulation of iron-regulatory elements by ATM and resensitized the cells to ferroptosis. Together, we have identified an unexpected ATM-MTF1-Ferritin/FPN1 regulatory axis as novel determinants of ferroptosis through regulating labile iron levels.
S tringent response is the main strategy used by bacteria to cope with fluctuating nutrient supplies and metabolic and oxidative stresses 1,2 . This process rapidly redirects energy from cell proliferation toward stress survival by reduction of biosynthesis, conservation of ATP and blockage of GTP production 3 . The stringent response is triggered by the accumulation of the bacterial 'alarmone' (p)ppGpp (guanosine tetra-or penta-phosphate, shortened as ppGpp below) through the regulation of ppGpp synthetases and hydrolases in the RelA and SpoT homologue family 2 .Recent studies suggest that the stringent response may also function in metazoans, as metazoan genomes encode a homologue of bacterial SpoT-MESH1 (Metazoan SpoT Homologue 1, encoded by HDDC3)-that can hydrolyse ppGpp in vitro and functionally complement SpoT in Escherichia coli 4 . Furthermore, Mesh1 deletion in Drosophila displays impaired starvation resistance and extensive transcriptional reprogramming 4 . Despite these supporting lines of evidence, neither ppGpp nor its synthetase has been discovered in metazoans, thus obscuring the genuine function and the relevant substrate(s) of MESH1 in mammalian cells. Here, we have identified NADPH as an efficient substrate of MESH1. MESH1 is a cytosolic NADPH phosphatase that is induced under stress conditions, leading to the NADPH depletion and ferroptosis-a novel form of iron-dependent regulated cell death characterized by lipid peroxidation 5 . Accordingly, MESH1 removal preserves the NADPH level in stressed cells and promotes their ferroptotic survival.Critical to the bacterial stringent response is the rapid relocation of resources from proliferation toward stress survival through the respective accumulation and degradation of (p)ppGpp by RelA and SpoT homologues. While mammalian genomes encode MESH1, a homologue of the bacterial (p)ppGpp hydrolase SpoT, neither (p)ppGpp nor its synthetase has been identified in mammalian cells. Here, we show that human MESH1 is an efficient cytosolic NADPH phosphatase that facilitates ferroptosis. Visualization of the MESH1-NADPH crystal structure revealed a bona fide affinity for the NADPH substrate. Ferroptosisinducing erastin or cystine deprivation elevates MESH1, whose overexpression depletes NADPH and sensitizes cells to ferroptosis, whereas MESH1 depletion promotes ferroptosis survival by sustaining the levels of NADPH and GSH and by reducing lipid peroxidation. The ferroptotic protection by MESH1 depletion is ablated by suppression of the cytosolic NAD(H) kinase, NADK, but not its mitochondrial counterpart NADK2. Collectively, these data shed light on the importance of cytosolic NADPH levels and their regulation under ferroptosis-inducing conditions in mammalian cells.
Besides being building blocks for protein synthesis, amino acids serve a wide variety of cellular functions, including acting as metabolic intermediates for ATP generation and for redox homeostasis. Upon amino acid deprivation, free uncharged tRNAs trigger GCN2-ATF4 to mediate the well-characterized transcriptional amino acid response (AAR). However, it is not clear whether the deprivation of different individual amino acids triggers identical or distinct AARs. Here, we characterized the global transcriptional response upon deprivation of one amino acid at a time. With the exception of glycine, which was not required for the proliferation of MCF7 cells, we found that the deprivation of most amino acids triggered a shared transcriptional response that included the activation of ATF4, p53 and TXNIP. However, there was also significant heterogeneity among different individual AARs. The most dramatic transcriptional response was triggered by methionine deprivation, which activated an extensive and unique response in different cell types. We uncovered that the specific methionine-deprived transcriptional response required creatine biosynthesis. This dependency on creatine biosynthesis was caused by the consumption of S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) during creatine biosynthesis that helps to deplete SAM under methionine deprivation and reduces histone methylations. As such, the simultaneous deprivation of methionine and sources of creatine biosynthesis (either arginine or glycine) abolished the reduction of histone methylation and the methionine-specific transcriptional response. Arginine-derived ornithine was also required for the complete induction of the methionine-deprived specific gene response. Collectively, our data identify a previously unknown set of heterogeneous amino acid responses and reveal a distinct methionine-deprived transcriptional response that results from the crosstalk of arginine, glycine and methionine metabolism via arginine/glycine-dependent creatine biosynthesis.
SummaryThe B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein (Blimp-1) upregulates the expression of syndecan-1 and J chain and represses that of c-myc. We have transfected Blimp-1 into two sublines of the BCL1 B cell lymphoma that represent distinct stages of B cell development in secondary lymphoid tissues. After interleukin (IL)-2 and IL-5 stimulation, the BCL1 3B3 cells differentiate into centrocyte-like cells, whereas the BCL1 5B1b cells blast and appear to be blocked at the centroblast stage. This blasting effect and the increase in IgM secretion that follows it can be blocked by a dominant negative form of Blimp-1. At the same time, the ectopic expression of Blimp-1 in these partially activated cells induces an apoptotic response that also can be suppressed by the same dominant negative protein. A similar effect was noticed when Blimp-1 was expressed in the mature L10A and the immature WEHI-231 lines, indicating this may be a general effect at earlier stages of the B cell development, and distinct from the ability of Blimp-1 to induce maturation in late stages of differentiation. Truncation mutants indicate that the induction of the apoptotic response relies mainly on 69 amino acids within Blimp-1's prolinerich domain. We propose that Blimp-1 expression defines a checkpoint beyond which fully activated B cells proceed to the plasma cell stage, whereas immature and partially activated cells are eliminated at this point.
Ferroptosis is a new form of regulated cell death resulting from the accumulation of lipid-reactive oxygen species. A growing number of studies indicate ferroptosis as an important tumor suppressor mechanism having therapeutic potential in cancers. Previously, we identified TAZ, a Hippo pathway effector, regulates ferroptosis in renal and ovarian cancer cells. Because YAP (Yes-associated protein 1) is the one and only paralog of TAZ, sharing high sequence similarity and functional redundancy with TAZ, we tested the potential roles of YAP in regulating ferroptosis. Here, we provide experimental evidence that YAP removal confers ferroptosis resistance, whereas overexpression of YAP sensitizes cancer cells to ferroptosis. Furthermore, integrative analysis of transcriptome reveals S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (SKP2), an E3 ubiquitin ligase, as a YAP direct target gene that regulates ferroptosis. We found that the YAP knockdown represses the expression of SKP2. Importantly, the genetic and chemical inhibitions of SKP2 robustly protect cells from ferroptosis. In addition, knockdown of YAP or SKP2 abolishes the lipid peroxidation during erastin-induced ferroptosis. Collectively, our results indicate that YAP, similar to TAZ, is a determinant of ferroptosis through regulating the expression of SKP2. Therefore, our results support the connection between Hippo pathway effectors and ferroptosis with significant therapeutic implications. Implications: This study reveals that YAP promotes ferroptosis by regulating SKP2, suggesting novel therapeutic options for YAP-driven tumors.
Ferroptosis is a newly described form of regulated cell death triggered by oxidative stresses and characterized by extensive lipid peroxidation and membrane damages. The name of ferroptosis indicates that the ferroptotic death process depends on iron, but not other metals, as one of its canonical features. Here, we reported that zinc is also essential for ferroptosis in breast and renal cancer cells. Zinc chelator suppressed ferroptosis, and zinc addition promoted ferroptosis, even during iron chelation. By interrogating zinc-related genes in a genome-wide RNAi screen of ferroptosis, we identified SLC39A7, encoding ZIP7 that controls zinc transport from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to cytosol, as a novel genetic determinant of ferroptosis. Genetic and chemical inhibition of the ZIP7 protected cells against ferroptosis, and the ferroptosis protection upon ZIP7 knockdown can be abolished by zinc supplementation. We found that the genetic and chemical inhibition of ZIP7 triggered ER stresses, including the induction of the expression of HERPUD1 and ATF3. Importantly, the knockdown of HERPUD1 abolished the ferroptosis protection phenotypes of ZIP7 inhibition. Together, we have uncovered an unexpected role of ZIP7 in ferroptosis by maintaining ER homeostasis. These findings may have therapeutic implications for human diseases involving ferroptosis and zinc dysregulations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.