Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Mol Carcinog. 2023 Apr;62(4):438-449. doi: 10.1002/mc.23497. Epub 2022 Dec 23.
Glutamine addiction is an important phenotype displayed in some types of cancer. In these cells, glutamine depletion results in a marked reduction in the aggressive cancer phenotype. Mesothelioma is an extremely aggressive disease that lacks effective therapy. In this study, we show that mesothelioma tumors are glutamine addicted suggesting that glutamine depletion may be a potential therapeutic strategy. We show that glutamine restriction, by removing glutamine from the medium or treatment with inhibitors that attenuate glutamine uptake (V-9302) or conversion to glutamate (CB-839), markedly reduces mesothelioma cell proliferation, spheroid formation, invasion, and migration. Inhibition of the SLC1A5 glutamine importer, by knockout or treatment with V-9302, an SLC1A5 inhibitor, also markedly reduces mesothelioma cell tumor growth. A relationship between glutamine utilization and YAP1/TEAD signaling has been demonstrated in other tumor types, and the YAP1/TEAD signaling cascade is active in mesothelioma cells and drives cell survival and proliferation. We therefore assessed the impact of glutamine depletion on YAP1/TEAD signaling. We show that glutamine restriction, SLC1A5 knockdown/knockout, or treatment with V-9302 or CB-839, reduces YAP1 level, YAP1/TEAD-dependent transcription, and YAP1/TEAD target protein (e.g., CTGF, cyclin D1, COL1A2, COL3A1, etc.) levels. These changes are observed in both cells and tumors. These findings indicate that mesothelioma is a glutamine addicted cancer, show that glutamine depletion attenuates YAP1/TEAD signaling and tumor growth, and suggest that glutamine restriction may be useful as a mesothelioma treatment strategy.
谷氨酰胺成瘾是某些类型癌症中表现出的重要表型。在这些细胞中,谷氨酰胺耗竭会导致侵袭性癌症表型显著减少。间皮瘤是一种极其侵袭性的疾病,缺乏有效的治疗方法。在这项研究中,我们表明间皮瘤肿瘤对谷氨酰胺有依赖性,这表明谷氨酰胺耗竭可能是一种潜在的治疗策略。我们表明,通过从培养基中去除谷氨酰胺或用抑制谷氨酰胺摄取(V-9302)或转化为谷氨酸(CB-839)的抑制剂进行治疗来限制谷氨酰胺,可显著降低间皮瘤细胞的增殖、球体形成、侵袭和迁移。通过敲除或用 V-9302(SLC1A5 的抑制剂)处理 SLC1A5 谷氨酸转运体来抑制 SLC1A5 谷氨酸转运体,也可显著降低间皮瘤细胞的肿瘤生长。在其他肿瘤类型中已经证明了谷氨酰胺利用与 YAP1/TEAD 信号之间的关系,并且 YAP1/TEAD 信号级联在间皮瘤细胞中活跃,并驱动细胞存活和增殖。因此,我们评估了谷氨酰胺耗竭对 YAP1/TEAD 信号的影响。我们表明,谷氨酰胺限制、SLC1A5 敲低/敲除或用 V-9302 或 CB-839 治疗可降低 YAP1 水平、YAP1/TEAD 依赖性转录和 YAP1/TEAD 靶蛋白(例如 CTGF、cyclin D1、COL1A2、COL3A1 等)水平。这些变化在细胞和肿瘤中都观察到。这些发现表明间皮瘤是一种谷氨酰胺成瘾的癌症,表明谷氨酰胺耗竭可减弱 YAP1/TEAD 信号和肿瘤生长,并表明谷氨酰胺限制可能是一种有用的间皮瘤治疗策略。