Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK or PCK) catalyzes the first rate-limiting step in hepatic gluconeogenesis pathway to maintain blood glucose levels. Mammalian cells express two PCK genes, encoding for a cytoplasmic (PCPEK-C or PCK1) and a mitochondrial (PEPCK-M or PCK2) isoforms, respectively. Increased expressions of both PCK genes are found in cancer of several organs, including colon, lung and skin, and linked to increased anabolic metabolism and cell proliferation. Here, we report that the expressions of both PCK1 and PCK2 genes are downregulated in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and low PCK expression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC. Forced expression of either PCK1 or PCK2 in liver cancer cell lines results in severe apoptosis under the condition of glucose deprivation and suppressed liver tumorigenesis in mice. Mechanistically, we show that the proapoptotic effect of PCK1 requires its catalytic activity. We demonstrate that forced PCK1 expression in glucose-starved liver cancer cells induced TCA cataplerosis, leading to energy crisis and oxidative stress. Replenishing TCA intermediate α-ketoglutarate or inhibition of reactive oxygen species production blocked the cell death caused by PCK expression. Taken together, our data reveal that PCK1 is detrimental to malignant hepatocytes and suggest activating PCK1 expression as a potential treatment strategy for patients with HCC.
The immune-response gene 1 (IRG1) plays a key role in anti-pathogen defense, as deletion of Irg1 in mice causes severe defects in response to bacterial and viral infection, and decreased survival 1, 2 . IRG1 transcription is rapidly induced by pathogen infection and in ammatory conditions primarily in cells of myeloid lineage 3 . IRG1 encodes a mitochondrial metabolic enzyme, aconitate decarboxylase 1 (ACOD1), that catalyzes the decarboxylation of cis-aconitate to produce the anti-in ammatory metabolite itaconic acid (ITA) 4 . Several molecular processes are affected by ITA, including succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) inhibition 5 , resulting in succinate accumulation and metabolic reprogramming 6,7 , and alkylation of protein cysteine residues, inducing the electrophilic stress response mediated by NRF2 and IκBζ 8, 9 and impairing aerobic glycolysis 10 . However, the mechanisms by which ITA exerts its profound antiin ammatory effect still remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we show that ITA is a potent inhibitor of the TET family DNA dioxygenases, which catalyze the conversion of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) during the process of active DNA demethylation. ITA binds to the same site of α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) in TET2, inhibiting its catalytic activity. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) treatment, which induces Irg1 expression and ITA accumulation, inhibits Tet activity in macrophages. Transcriptome analysis reveals TET2 is a major target of ITA in suppressing LPS-induced genes, including those regulated by NF-κB and STAT signaling pathways. In vivo, ITA decreases 5hmC, reduces LPS-induced acute pulmonary edema and lung and liver injury, and protects mice against lethal endotoxaemia in a manner that is dependent on the catalytic activity of Tet2. Our study thus identi es ITA as an immune modulatory metabolite that selectively inhibits TET enzymes to dampen the in ammatory response. MainDeletion of the Irg1 gene or treatment with cell permeable ITA alters the transcriptional signature in response to LPS 2 . We speculated that ITA may impact epigenetics to in uence gene expression, and therefore, we determined the effect of Irg1 expression and ITA accumulation on global histone and DNA de/methylation in transfected HEK293T cells (Extended Data Fig. 1a). We found that ectopic expression of either wild-type or catalytic inactive mutant Irg1 had little effect on mono-, di-, and trimethylation of all ve histone H3 lysine residues (Extended Data Fig. 1b, 1c). In contrast, expression of wild-type Irg1, but not the catalytic inactive mutant, dramatically reduced Tet2-mediated global 5hmC in cells (Fig. 1a and Extended Data Fig. 1d-e). Like α-KG, which is a crucial co-substrate for the activity of TET2, ITA is also a dicarboxylic acid containing a 4-or 5-carboxylate that, in the case of α-KG, forms hydrogen and ionic bonds with H1416, R1896, and S1898 in TET2 11 . Of note, α-KG binds to Fe(II) in a bidentate manner via its C-1 carboxylate and C-2 keto groups, which are lacking in ITA. This raises the possibi...
Immune-responsive gene 1 (IRG1) encodes aconitate decarboxylase (ACOD1) that catalyzes the production of itaconic acids (ITAs). The anti-inflammatory function of IRG1/ITA has been established in multiple pathogen models, but very little is known in cancer. Here, we show that IRG1 is expressed in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in both human and mouse tumors. Mechanistically, tumor cells induce Irg1 expression in macrophages by activating NF-κB pathway, and ITA produced by ACOD1 inhibits TET DNA dioxygenases to dampen the expression of inflammatory genes and the infiltration of CD8 + T cells into tumor sites. Deletion of Irg1 in mice suppresses the growth of multiple tumor types and enhances the efficacy of anti–PD-(L)1 immunotherapy. Our study provides a proof of concept that ACOD1 is a potential target for immune-oncology drugs and IRG1 -deficient macrophages represent a potent cell therapy strategy for cancer treatment even in pancreatic tumors that are resistant to T cell–based immunotherapy.
Highlights d Zscan4f is a sequence-specific DNA-binding transcription factor d Zscan4f, a representative of ZSCAN proteins, is a functional partner for Tet2 d The ZSCAN4-TET2 complex regulates metabolic rewiring and activates proteasome activity d Recruiting TET may represent a general biochemical mechanism of ZSCAN proteins
DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) catalyze DNA methylation, and their functions in mammalian embryonic development and diseases including cancer have been extensively studied. However, regulation of DNMTs remains under study. Here, we show that CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α (CEBPA) interacts with the long splice isoform DNMT3A, but not the short isoform DNMT3A2. CEBPA, by interacting with DNMT3A N-terminus, blocks DNMT3A from accessing DNA substrate and thereby inhibits its activity. Recurrent tumor-associated CEBPA mutations, such as preleukemic CEBPA N321D mutation, which is particularly potent in causing AML with high mortality, disrupt DNMT3A association and cause aberrant DNA methylation, notably hypermethylation of PRC2 target genes. Consequently, leukemia cells with the CEBPA N321D mutation are hypersensitive to hypomethylation agents. Our results provide insights into the functional difference between DNMT3A isoforms and the regulation of de novo DNA methylation at specific loci in the genome. Our study also suggests a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of CEBPA -mutated leukemia with DNA-hypomethylating agents.
<div>Abstract<p>Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is the terminal enzyme in <i>de novo</i> lipogenesis and plays a key role in cell proliferation. Pharmacologic inhibitors of FASN are being evaluated in clinical trials for treatment of cancer, obesity, and other diseases. Here, we report a previously unknown mechanism of FASN regulation involving its acetylation by KAT8 and its deacetylation by HDAC3. FASN acetylation promoted its degradation via the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. FASN acetylation enhanced its association with the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM21. Acetylation destabilized FASN and resulted in decreased <i>de novo</i> lipogenesis and tumor cell growth. FASN acetylation was frequently reduced in human hepatocellular carcinoma samples, which correlated with increased HDAC3 expression and FASN protein levels. Our results suggest opportunities to target FASN acetylation as an anticancer strategy. <i>Cancer Res; 76(23); 6924–36. ©2016 AACR</i>.</p></div>
<p>Supplementary experimental procedures; Figure S1. Acetylation promotes polyubiquitylation and protein degradation of FASN; Figure S2. KAT3A, KAT3B and HAT1 do not interact with FASN; Figure S3. HDAC3 regulates acetylation and protein stability of FASN; Figure S4. TRIM21 interacts and promotes polyubiquitylation of FASN; Figure S5. Raman spectra of lipid and protein signals in the cell; Figure S6. Clinical cases with decreased FASN acetylation, increased FASN and HDAC3 poteins, as well as a moderate increase in TRIM21 protein in human hepatocellular cancer tissues.</p>
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