GCN2 eIF2 kinase promotes prostate cancer by maintaining amino acid homeostasis
- Indiana University, United States
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, United States
- Purdue University West Lafayette, United States
- Indiana University School of Medicine, United States
- University at Buffalo, State University of New York, United States
Abstract
A stress adaptation pathway termed the integrated stress response has been suggested to be active in many cancers including prostate cancer (PCa). Here, we demonstrate that the eIF2 kinase GCN2 is required for sustained growth in androgen-sensitive and castration-resistant models of PCa both in vitro and in vivo, and is active in PCa patient samples. Using RNA-seq transcriptome analysis and a CRISPR-based phenotypic screen, GCN2 was shown to regulate expression of over 60 solute-carrier (SLC) genes, including those involved in amino acid transport and loss of GCN2 function reduces amino acid import and levels. Addition of essential amino acids or expression of 4F2 (SLC3A2) partially restored growth following loss of GCN2, suggesting that GCN2 targeting of SLC transporters is required for amino acid homeostasis needed to sustain tumor growth. A small molecule inhibitor of GCN2 showed robust in vivo efficacy in androgen-sensitive and castration-resistant mouse models of PCa, supporting its therapeutic potential for the treatment of PCa.
Data availability
The authors declare that all data generated or analyzed in this study are included in the published article, its supplementary information and source files, or are publicly available. The CHARGE-seq and RNA-seq datasets generated in this study have been deposited in the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database under the ascension codes GSE196251 and GSE196252, respectively. The custom python script used in the analysis of our Charge-seq study is available on GitHub (https://github.com/carlsonkPhD/tRNA_Charge-Seq/). Gene expression data from prostate cancer patients (PRAD) in the TCGA database used for correlation analysis is publicly available.
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GCN2 eIF2 kinase promotes prostate cancer by maintaining amino acid homeostasisNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE196251.
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GCN2 eIF2 kinase promotes prostate cancer by maintaining amino acid homeostasisNCBI Gene Expression Omnibus, GSE196252.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
NIH Office of the Director (GM136331)
- Ronald C Wek
NIH Office of the Director (DK109714)
- Tracy G Anthony
National Cancer Institute (R21CA221942)
- Robero Pili
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center (P30CA082709)
- Kirk A Staschke
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Indiana University School of Medicine (Protocol #21014) and comply with all regulations for ethical conduct of animal research. Human prostate core needle biopsy specimens were obtained from the Indiana University Comprehensive Cancer Center Tissue Procurement and Distribution Core and approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board (IRB #1796) at the Office of Research Administration at Indiana University.
Copyright
© 2022, Cordova 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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GCN2 eIF2 kinase promotes prostate cancer by maintaining amino acid homeostasis
eLife 11:e81083.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.81083
Further reading
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Background:
Cervical adenocarcinoma (ADC) is more aggressive compared to other types of cervical cancer (CC), such as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and tumor heterogeneity are recognized as pivotal factors in cancer progression and therapy. However, the disparities in TIME and heterogeneity between ADC and SCC are poorly understood.
Methods:
We performed single-cell RNA sequencing on 11 samples of ADC tumor tissues, with other 4 SCC samples served as controls. The immunochemistry and multiplexed immunofluorescence were conducted to validate our findings.
Results:
Compared to SCC, ADC exhibited unique enrichments in several sub-clusters of epithelial cells with elevated stemness and hyper-malignant features, including the Epi_10_CYSTM1 cluster. ADC displayed a highly immunosuppressive environment characterized by the enrichment of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and tumor-promoting neutrophils. The Epi_10_CYSTM1 cluster recruits Tregs via ALCAM-CD6 signaling, while Tregs reciprocally induce stemness in the Epi_10_CYSTM1 cluster through TGFβ signaling. Importantly, our study revealed that the Epi_10_CYSTM1 cluster could serve as a valuable predictor of lymph node metastasis for CC patients.
Conclusions:
This study highlights the significance of ADC-specific cell clusters in establishing a highly immunosuppressive microenvironment, ultimately contributing to the heightened aggressiveness and poorer prognosis of ADC compared to SCC.
Funding:
Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82002753; 82072882; 81500475) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2021JJ40324; 2022JJ70103).
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