Functional genomics reveal that the serine synthesis pathway is essential in breast cancer.

Cancer cells adapt their metabolic processes to drive macromolecular biosynthesis for rapid cell growth and proliferation. RNA interference (RNAi)-based loss-of-function screening has proven powerful for the identification of new and interesting cancer targets, and recent studies have used this technology in vivo to identify novel tumour suppressor genes. Here we developed a method for identifying novel cancer targets via negative-selection RNAi screening using a human breast cancer xenograft model at an orthotopic site in the mouse. Using this method, we screened a set of metabolic genes associated with aggressive breast cancer and stemness to identify those required for in vivo tumorigenesis. Among the genes identified, phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) is in a genomic region of recurrent copy number gain in breast cancer and PHGDH protein levels are elevated in 70% of oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancers. PHGDH catalyses the first step in the serine biosynthesis pathway, and breast cancer cells with high PHGDH expression have increased serine synthesis flux. Suppression of PHGDH in cell lines with elevated PHGDH expression, but not in those without, causes a strong decrease in cell proliferation and a reduction in serine synthesis. We find that PHGDH suppression does not affect intracellular serine levels, but causes a drop in the levels of α-ketoglutarate, another output of the pathway and a tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediate. In cells with high PHGDH expression, the serine synthesis pathway contributes approximately 50% of the total anaplerotic flux of glutamine into the TCA cycle. These results reveal that certain breast cancers are dependent upon increased serine pathway flux caused by PHGDH overexpression and demonstrate the utility of in vivo negative-selection RNAi screens for finding potential anticancer targets.

Genome-scale RNAi on living-cell microarrays identifies novel regulators of Drosophila melanogaster TORC1-S6K pathway signaling.

The evolutionarily conserved target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) controls cell growth in response to nutrient availability and growth factors. TORC1 signaling is hyperactive in cancer, and regulators of TORC1 signaling may represent therapeutic targets for human diseases. To identify novel regulators of TORC1 signaling, we performed a genome-scale RNA interference screen on microarrays of Drosophila melanogaster cells expressing human RPS6, a TORC1 effector whose phosphorylated form we detected by immunofluorescence. Our screen revealed that the TORC1-S6K-RPS6 signaling axis is regulated by many subcellular components, including the Class I vesicle coat (COPI), the spliceosome, the proteasome, the nuclear pore, and the translation initiation machinery. Using additional RNAi reagents, we confirmed 70 novel genes as significant on-target regulators of RPS6 phosphorylation, and we characterized them with extensive secondary assays probing various arms of the TORC1 pathways, identifying functional relationships among those genes. We conclude that cell-based microarrays are a useful platform for genome-scale and secondary screening in Drosophila, revealing regulators that may represent drug targets for cancers and other diseases of deregulated TORC1 signaling.

Systematic identification of signaling pathways with potential to confer anticancer drug resistance.

Cancer cells can activate diverse signaling pathways to evade the cytotoxic action of drugs. We created and screened a library of barcoded pathway-activating mutant complementary DNAs to identify those that enhanced the survival of cancer cells in the presence of 13 clinically relevant, targeted therapies. We found that activation of the RAS-MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase), Notch1, PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)-mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin), and ER (estrogen receptor) signaling pathways often conferred resistance to this selection of drugs. Activation of the Notch1 pathway promoted acquired resistance to tamoxifen (an ER-targeted therapy) in serially passaged breast cancer xenografts in mice, and treating mice with a γ-secretase inhibitor to inhibit Notch signaling restored tamoxifen sensitivity. Markers of Notch1 activity in tumor tissue correlated with resistance to tamoxifen in breast cancer patients. Similarly, activation of Notch1 signaling promoted acquired resistance to MAPK inhibitors in BRAF(V600E) melanoma cells in culture, and the abundance of Notch1 pathway markers was increased in tumors from a subset of melanoma patients. Thus, Notch1 signaling may be a therapeutic target in some drug-resistant breast cancers and melanomas. Additionally, multiple resistance pathways were activated in melanoma cell lines with intrinsic resistance to MAPK inhibitors, and simultaneous inhibition of these pathways synergistically induced drug sensitivity. These data illustrate the potential for systematic identification of the signaling pathways controlling drug resistance that could inform clinical strategies and drug development for multiple types of cancer. This approach may also be used to advance clinical options in other disease contexts.

mTORC1 phosphorylation sites encode their sensitivity to starvation and rapamycin.

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 (mTORC1) protein kinase promotes growth and is the target of rapamycin, a clinically useful drug that also prolongs life span in model organisms. A persistent mystery is why the phosphorylation of many bona fide mTORC1 substrates is resistant to rapamycin. We find that the in vitro kinase activity of mTORC1 toward peptides encompassing established phosphorylation sites varies widely and correlates strongly with the resistance of the sites to rapamycin, as well as to nutrient and growth factor starvation within cells. Slight modifications of the sites were sufficient to alter mTORC1 activity toward them in vitro and to cause concomitant changes within cells in their sensitivity to rapamycin and starvation. Thus, the intrinsic capacity of a phosphorylation site to serve as an mTORC1 substrate, a property we call substrate quality, is a major determinant of its sensitivity to modulators of the pathway. Our results reveal a mechanism through which mTORC1 effectors can respond differentially to the same signals.

A Tumor suppressor complex with GAP activity for the Rag GTPases that signal amino acid sufficiency to mTORC1.

The mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway promotes cell growth in response to many cues, including amino acids, which act through the Rag guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) to promote mTORC1 translocation to the lysosomal surface, its site of activation. Although progress has been made in identifying positive regulators of the Rags, it is unknown if negative factors also exist. Here, we identify GATOR as a complex that interacts with the Rags and is composed of two subcomplexes we call GATOR1 and -2. Inhibition of GATOR1 subunits (DEPDC5, Nprl2, and Nprl3) makes mTORC1 signaling resistant to amino acid deprivation. In contrast, inhibition of GATOR2 subunits (Mios, WDR24, WDR59, Seh1L, and Sec13) suppresses mTORC1 signaling, and epistasis analysis shows that GATOR2 negatively regulates DEPDC5. GATOR1 has GTPase-activating protein (GAP) activity for RagA and RagB, and its components are mutated in human cancer. In cancer cells with inactivating mutations in GATOR1, mTORC1 is hyperactive and insensitive to amino acid starvation, and such cells are hypersensitive to rapamycin, an mTORC1 inhibitor. Thus, we identify a key negative regulator of the Rag GTPases and reveal that, like other mTORC1 regulators, Rag function can be deregulated in cancer.

The mTOR-regulated phosphoproteome reveals a mechanism of mTORC1-mediated inhibition of growth factor signaling.

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) protein kinase is a master growth promoter that nucleates two complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. Despite the diverse processes controlled by mTOR, few substrates are known. We defined the mTOR-regulated phosphoproteome by quantitative mass spectrometry and characterized the primary sequence motif specificity of mTOR using positional scanning peptide libraries. We found that the phosphorylation response to insulin is largely mTOR dependent and that mTOR exhibits a unique preference for proline, hydrophobic, and aromatic residues at the +1 position. The adaptor protein Grb10 was identified as an mTORC1 substrate that mediates the inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase typical of cells lacking tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2), a tumor suppressor and negative regulator of mTORC1. Our work clarifies how mTORC1 inhibits growth factor signaling and opens new areas of investigation in mTOR biology.