PCK1 and DHODH drive colorectal cancer liver metastatic colonization and hypoxic growth by promoting nucleotide synthesis
- The Rockefeller University, United States
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, United States
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of human death. Mortality is primarily due to metastatic organ colonization, with the liver being the primary organ affected. We modeled metastatic CRC (mCRC) liver colonization using patient-derived primary and metastatic tumor xenografts (PDX). Such PDX modeling predicted patient survival outcomes. In vivo selection of multiple PDXs for enhanced metastatic colonization capacity upregulated the gluconeogenic enzyme PCK1, which enhanced liver metastatic hypoxic growth by driving pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis under hypoxia. Consistently, highly metastatic tumors upregulated multiple pyrimidine biosynthesis intermediary metabolites. Therapeutic inhibition of the pyrimidine biosynthetic enzyme DHODH with leflunomide substantially impaired CRC liver metastatic colonization and hypoxic growth. Our findings provide a potential mechanistic basis for the epidemiologic association of anti-gluconeogenic drugs with improved CRC metastasis outcomes, reveal the exploitation of a gluconeogenesis enzyme for pyrimidine biosynthesis under hypoxia, and implicate DHODH and PCK1 as metabolic therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer metastatic progression.
Data availability
Sequencing data have been deposited in GEO under accession codes GSE138248
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mRNA sequencing of highly and lowly metastatic human colorectal cancer PDXsNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE138248.
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Gene expression profiling study by RNA-seq in colorectal cancerNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE50760.
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Whole genome analysis for liver metastasis gene signitures in colorectal cancerNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE6988.
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Expression Profile of Primary Colorectal Cancers and associated Liver MetastasesNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE14297.
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Expression data from colorectal cancer patientsNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE41258.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1 TR001866)
- Norihiro Yamaguchi
- Ethan M Weinberg
Meyer Foundation
- Norihiro Yamaguchi
The Helmsley Charitable trust
- Norihiro Yamaguchi
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM07739)
- Alexander Nguyen
NIH Office of the Director (T32CA009673-36A1)
- Hani Goodarzi
NIH Office of the Director (1K99CA194077-01)
- Hani Goodarzi
National Cancer Institute (K00CA222986)
- Maria V Liberti
Starr Foundation
- Sohail Tavazoie
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved protocol, The Rockefeller University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol 15783-H).
Human subjects: Approval for the study was obtained through the MSKCC Institutional Review Board/Privacy Board (protocol 10-018A), the MSKCC Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol 04-03-009), The Rockefeller University Institutional Review Board (protocol STA-0681), Written consent was obtained from all human participants who provided samples for patient-derived xenografts.
Reviewing Editor
- William C. Hahn, Dana-Farber Cancer Institue, United States
Publication history
- Received: September 23, 2019
- Accepted: December 15, 2019
- Accepted Manuscript published: December 16, 2019 (version 1)
- Accepted Manuscript updated: December 23, 2019 (version 2)
- Version of Record published: January 24, 2020 (version 3)
Copyright
© 2019, Yamaguchi 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.
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PCK1 and DHODH drive colorectal cancer liver metastatic colonization and hypoxic growth by promoting nucleotide synthesis
eLife 8:e52135.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52135
Further reading
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- Cancer Biology
- Medicine
Background:
Sarcomas comprise approximately 1% of all human malignancies; treatment resistance is one of the major reasons for the poor prognosis of sarcomas. Accumulating evidence suggests that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including miRNAs, long ncRNAs, and circular RNAs, are important molecules involved in the crosstalk between resistance to chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and radiotherapy via various pathways.
Methods:
We searched the PubMed (MEDLINE) database for articles regarding sarcoma-associated ncRNAs from inception to August 17, 2022. Studies investigating the roles of host-derived miRNAs, long ncRNAs, and circular RNAs in sarcoma were included. Data relating to the roles of ncRNAs in therapeutic regulation and their applicability as biomarkers for predicting the therapeutic response of sarcomas were extracted. Two independent researchers assessed the quality of the studies using the Würzburg Methodological Quality Score (W-MeQS).
Results:
Observational studies revealed the ectopic expression of ncRNAs in sarcoma patients who had different responses to antitumor treatments. Experimental studies have confirmed crosstalk between cellular pathways pertinent to chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and radiotherapy resistance. Of the included studies, W-MeQS scores ranged from 3 to 10 (average score = 5.42). Of the 12 articles that investigated ncRNAs as biomarkers, none included a validation cohort. Selective reporting of the sensitivity, specificity, and receiver operating curves was common.
Conclusions:
Although ncRNAs appear to be good candidates as biomarkers for predicting treatment response and therapeutics for sarcoma, their differential expression across tissues complicates their application. Further research regarding their potential for inhibiting or activating these regulatory molecules to reverse treatment resistance may be useful.
Funding:
This study’s literature retrieval was supported financially by the 345 Talent Project of Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University (M0949 to Tao Zhang).
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- Cancer Biology
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