Abstract

Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is a rare liver cancer. FLCs uniquely produce DNAJ-PKAc, a chimeric enzyme consisting of a chaperonin-binding domain fused to the Ca subunit of protein kinase A. Biochemical analyses of clinical samples reveal that a unique property of this fusion enzyme is the ability to recruit heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70). This cellular chaperonin is frequently up-regulated in cancers. Gene-editing of mouse hepatocytes generated disease-relevant AML12DNAJ-PKAc cell lines. Further analyses indicate that the proto-oncogene A-kinase anchoring protein-Lbc is up-regulated in FLC and functions to cluster DNAJ-PKAc/Hsp70 sub-complexes with a RAF-MEK-ERK kinase module. Drug screening reveals Hsp70 and MEK inhibitor combinations that selectively block proliferation of AML12DNAJ-PKAc cells. Phosphoproteomic profiling demonstrates that DNAJ-PKAc biases the signaling landscape toward ERK activation and engages downstream kinase cascades. Thus, the oncogenic action of DNAJ-PKAc involves an acquired scaffolding function that permits recruitment of Hsp70 and mobilization of local ERK signaling.

Data availability

There are no restrictions to the availability of our data. Raw mass spectrometry data has been uploaded to MassIVE, an NIH supported MS data repository (MSV000083167). Data will be made publicly available.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Rigney E Turnham

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. F Donelson Smith

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8080-7589
  3. Heidi L Kenerson

    Department of Surgery, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Mitchell H Omar

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Martin Golkowski

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Irvin Garcia

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Renay Bauer

    Department of Surgery, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Ho-Tak Lau

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Kevin M Sullivan

    Department of Surgery, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Lorene K Langeberg

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3760-7813
  11. Shao-En Ong

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Kimberly J Riehle

    Department of Surgery, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  13. Raymond S Yeung

    Department of Surgery, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  14. John D Scott

    Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, United States
    For correspondence
    scottjdw@uw.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0367-8146

Funding

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK119192)

  • John D Scott

Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation

  • John D Scott

National Cancer Institute (R21CA201867)

  • Kimberly J Riehle

St. Baldrick's Foundation

  • Kimberly J Riehle

National Cancer Institute (R21CA177402)

  • Shao-En Ong

NIH Office of the Director (S10 OD021502)

  • Shao-En Ong

National Institutes of Health (2T32CA080416)

  • Rigney E Turnham

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (F32DK121415)

  • Mitchell H Omar

Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation

  • Raymond S Yeung

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2019, Turnham et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 3,190
    views
  • 353
    downloads
  • 55
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Rigney E Turnham
  2. F Donelson Smith
  3. Heidi L Kenerson
  4. Mitchell H Omar
  5. Martin Golkowski
  6. Irvin Garcia
  7. Renay Bauer
  8. Ho-Tak Lau
  9. Kevin M Sullivan
  10. Lorene K Langeberg
  11. Shao-En Ong
  12. Kimberly J Riehle
  13. Raymond S Yeung
  14. John D Scott
(2019)
An acquired scaffolding function of the DNAJ-PKAc fusion contributes to oncogenic signaling in fibrolamellar carcinoma
eLife 8:e44187.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44187

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44187

Further reading

    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    Mai Nguyen, Elda Bauda ... Cecile Morlot
    Research Article

    Teichoic acids (TA) are linear phospho-saccharidic polymers and important constituents of the cell envelope of Gram-positive bacteria, either bound to the peptidoglycan as wall teichoic acids (WTA) or to the membrane as lipoteichoic acids (LTA). The composition of TA varies greatly but the presence of both WTA and LTA is highly conserved, hinting at an underlying fundamental function that is distinct from their specific roles in diverse organisms. We report the observation of a periplasmic space in Streptococcus pneumoniae by cryo-electron microscopy of vitreous sections. The thickness and appearance of this region change upon deletion of genes involved in the attachment of TA, supporting their role in the maintenance of a periplasmic space in Gram-positive bacteria as a possible universal function. Consequences of these mutations were further examined by super-resolved microscopy, following metabolic labeling and fluorophore coupling by click chemistry. This novel labeling method also enabled in-gel analysis of cell fractions. With this approach, we were able to titrate the actual amount of TA per cell and to determine the ratio of WTA to LTA. In addition, we followed the change of TA length during growth phases, and discovered that a mutant devoid of LTA accumulates the membrane-bound polymerized TA precursor.

    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Computational and Systems Biology
    Shinichi Kawaguchi, Xin Xu ... Toshie Kai
    Research Article

    Protein–protein interactions are fundamental to understanding the molecular functions and regulation of proteins. Despite the availability of extensive databases, many interactions remain uncharacterized due to the labor-intensive nature of experimental validation. In this study, we utilized the AlphaFold2 program to predict interactions among proteins localized in the nuage, a germline-specific non-membrane organelle essential for piRNA biogenesis in Drosophila. We screened 20 nuage proteins for 1:1 interactions and predicted dimer structures. Among these, five represented novel interaction candidates. Three pairs, including Spn-E_Squ, were verified by co-immunoprecipitation. Disruption of the salt bridges at the Spn-E_Squ interface confirmed their functional importance, underscoring the predictive model’s accuracy. We extended our analysis to include interactions between three representative nuage components—Vas, Squ, and Tej—and approximately 430 oogenesis-related proteins. Co-immunoprecipitation verified interactions for three pairs: Mei-W68_Squ, CSN3_Squ, and Pka-C1_Tej. Furthermore, we screened the majority of Drosophila proteins (~12,000) for potential interaction with the Piwi protein, a central player in the piRNA pathway, identifying 164 pairs as potential binding partners. This in silico approach not only efficiently identifies potential interaction partners but also significantly bridges the gap by facilitating the integration of bioinformatics and experimental biology.