Xu Wei, Deng Kaiyuan, Pei Lei
Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Wuxi No.2 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China; Department of Oncology, Jiangnan University Medical Center, Wuxi, China.
Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Wuxi No.2 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China; Department of General Surgery, Jiangnan University Medical Center, Wuxi, China.
Biochem Pharmacol. 2025 Mar;233:116746. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2025.116746. Epub 2025 Jan 9.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a malignancy with high global incidence and mortality rates, posing a serious threat to human health. Despite favorable outcomes following early detection and surgical intervention, the asymptomatic nature of CRC often results in delayed diagnoses, limiting surgical treatment options. Furthermore, effective therapeutic drugs for CRC remain lacking in clinical practice, highlighting an urgent need to identify novel therapeutic targets. In this study, we identified that prolyl 4-hydroxylase subunit alpha 3 (P4HA3) is significantly upregulated in CRC and is associated with poor prognosis in patients. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that knockdown of P4HA3 induces ferroptosis, thereby inhibiting tumor growth. This ferroptosis induction is closely linked to increased lipid peroxidation, and P4HA3 knockdown promotes ferroptosis by upregulating acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 4 (ACSL4), which regulates polyunsaturated fatty acid-containing phospholipids (PUFA-PLs) biosynthesis. Mechanistically, P4HA3 knockdown stabilizes ACSL4 mRNA by downregulating AUF1, an important RNA-binding protein (RBP) that binds to AU-rich elements (AREs) in the ACSL4 mRNA 3' untranslated region (UTR), thereby preventing its degradation. Additionally, given the lack of research on P4HA3 inhibitors, we employed virtual screening and identified Tubuloside A as a potential therapeutic agent. Tubuloside A promotes the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation of P4HA3, exerting anti-CRC effects. In summary, our findings demonstrate that P4HA3 protects CRC cells from ferroptosis by regulating ACSL4 mRNA stability via AUF1, and Tubuloside A serves as a potential P4HA3 degrader, offering a promising therapeutic strategy for CRC treatment.
结直肠癌(CRC)是一种在全球发病率和死亡率都很高的恶性肿瘤,对人类健康构成严重威胁。尽管早期检测和手术干预后预后良好,但CRC的无症状性质常常导致诊断延迟,限制了手术治疗选择。此外,临床实践中仍缺乏有效的CRC治疗药物,这凸显了识别新治疗靶点的迫切需求。在本研究中,我们发现脯氨酰4-羟化酶亚基α3(P4HA3)在CRC中显著上调,且与患者的不良预后相关。体外和体内实验均表明,敲低P4HA3可诱导铁死亡,从而抑制肿瘤生长。这种铁死亡诱导与脂质过氧化增加密切相关,敲低P4HA3通过上调酰基辅酶A合成酶长链家族成员4(ACSL4)促进铁死亡,ACSL4调节含多不饱和脂肪酸的磷脂(PUFA-PLs)生物合成。机制上,敲低P4HA3通过下调AUF1来稳定ACSL4 mRNA,AUF1是一种重要的RNA结合蛋白(RBP),可与ACSL4 mRNA 3'非翻译区(UTR)中的富含AU元件(ARE)结合,从而防止其降解。此外,鉴于对P4HA3抑制剂的研究较少,我们采用虚拟筛选并确定了土贝母苷A作为一种潜在的治疗药物。土贝母苷A促进P4HA3的泛素-蛋白酶体降解,发挥抗CRC作用。总之,我们的研究结果表明,P4HA3通过AUF1调节ACSL4 mRNA稳定性来保护CRC细胞免受铁死亡,土贝母苷A作为一种潜在的P4HA3降解剂,为CRC治疗提供了一种有前景的治疗策略。
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