RESUMO
Notch signaling represents a key mechanism mediating cancer metastasis and stemness. To understand how Notch signaling is overactivated to couple tumor metastasis and self-renewal in NSCLC cells, we performed the current study and showed that RFC4, a DNA replication factor amplified in more than 40% of NSCLC tissues, directly binds to the Notch1 intracellular domain (NICD1) to competitively abrogate CDK8/FBXW7-mediated degradation of NICD1. Moreover, RFC4 is a functional transcriptional target gene of Notch1 signaling, forming a positive feedback loop between high RFC4 and NICD1 levels and sustained overactivation of Notch signaling, which not only leads to NSCLC tumorigenicity and metastasis but also confers NSCLC cell resistance to treatment with the clinically tested drug DAPT against NICD1 synthesis. Furthermore, together with our study, analysis of two public datasets involving more than 1500 NSCLC patients showed that RFC4 gene amplification, and high RFC4 and NICD1 levels were tightly correlated with NSCLC metastasis, progression and poor patient prognosis. Therefore, our study characterizes the pivotal roles of the positive feedback loop between RFC4 and NICD1 in coupling NSCLC metastasis and stemness properties and suggests its therapeutic and diagnostic/prognostic potential for NSCLC therapy.
Assuntos
Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/genética , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Receptor Notch1/genética , Proteína de Replicação C/genética , Transdução de Sinais/genética , Células A549 , Animais , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/terapia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Retroalimentação Fisiológica , Feminino , Células HEK293 , Humanos , Estimativa de Kaplan-Meier , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Neoplasias Pulmonares/terapia , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Nus , Metástase Neoplásica , Receptor Notch1/metabolismo , Proteína de Replicação C/metabolismo , Ensaios Antitumorais Modelo de Xenoenxerto/métodosRESUMO
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as a new class of regulators for a variety of biological processes and have been suggested to play pivotal roles in cancer development and progression. Our current study found that a lncRNA, designated enhancing IL-6/STAT3 signaling activation (LEISA, ENST00000603468), functioned as an oncogenic lncRNA in lung adenocarcinoma (LAD), a major form of non-small cell lung carcinoma, which is one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies with high morbidity and mortality worldwide, and was involved in the regulation of STAT3 induced IL-6 transcription. Our data showed that LEISA was highly expressed in, and correlated with the clinical progression and prognosis of LAD. Ectopic expression of LEISA promoted the proliferation and suppressed apoptosis of LAD cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that LEISA recruited STAT3 to bind the promoter of IL-6 and upregulated IL-6 expression. Taken together, our work identifies LEISA as a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for LAD.