PROX1 Orchestrates Tumor Metabolic Plasticity by Integrating LKB1-AMPK Signaling with BCAA Catabolism (ATAC-Seq)
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ABSTRACT: Tumor cell metabolic plasticity is essential for tumor progression and therapeutic response, but the mechanism for regulation of metabolic plasticity remain poorly explored. Here, we identify PROX1 as an essential determinant for tumor metabolic plasticity. Notably, PROX1 is significantly reduced in response to metabolic stress or AMPK activation and is elevated in LKB1-deficient tumors in mice and human. Furthermore, the Ser79 phosphorylation of PROX1 by AMPK significantly alters its protein activity and allows a rapid recruitment of CUL4-DDB1 E3 ubiquitin ligase to promote PROX1 degradation under glucose starvation, a critical event that drives BCAA metabolism rewiring to suppress mTOR signaling. Importantly, PROX1 loss or Ser79 phosphorylation in HCC shows therapeutic resistance to metformin. Consistently, genetic ablation of PROX1 renders LKB1‐deficient KRAS-driven lung cancer resistant to phenformin treatment. Conversely, mice harboring non-phosphorylated PROX1 mutant or LKB1 mutant exhibit high PROX1 stabilization, promoting liver and lung cancer progression. Clinically, AMPK-PROX1 axis in human cancers is important for patient clinical outcomes. Collectively, our results demonstrate that the deficiency in the LKB1-AMPK axis in cancers reactivates PROX1 to sustain intracellular BCAA pools, resulting in enhanced mTOR signaling, and facilitating tumorigenesis and aggressiveness.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE214193 | GEO | 2022/09/27
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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