The Mst1/2-BNIP3 axis is required for mitophagy induction and neuronal viability under mitochondrial stress.

Mitophagy induction upon mitochondrial stress is critical for maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis and cellular function. Here, we found that Mst1/2 (Stk3/4), key regulators of the Hippo pathway, are required for the induction of mitophagy under various mitochondrial stress conditions. Knockdown of Mst1/2 or pharmacological inhibition by XMU-MP-1 treatment led to impaired mitophagy induction upon CCCP and DFP treatment. Mechanistically, Mst1/2 induces mitophagy independently of the PINK1-Parkin pathway and the canonical Hippo pathway. Moreover, our results suggest the essential involvement of BNIP3 in Mst1/2-mediated mitophagy induction upon mitochondrial stress. Notably, Mst1/2 knockdown diminishes mitophagy induction, exacerbates mitochondrial dysfunction, and reduces cellular survival upon neurotoxic stress in both SH-SY5Y cells and Drosophila models. Conversely, Mst1 and Mst2 expression enhances mitophagy induction and cell survival. In addition, AAV-mediated Mst1 expression reduced the loss of TH-positive neurons, ameliorated behavioral deficits, and improved mitochondrial function in an MPTP-induced Parkinson's disease mouse model. Our findings reveal the Mst1/2-BNIP3 regulatory axis as a novel mediator of mitophagy induction under conditions of mitochondrial stress and suggest that Mst1/2 play a pivotal role in maintaining mitochondrial function and neuronal viability in response to neurotoxic treatment.

Interaction of LATS1 with SMAC links the MST2/Hippo pathway with apoptosis in an IAP-dependent manner.

Metastatic malignant melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer, and it is characterised by its high resistance to apoptosis. The main melanoma driving mutations are part of ERK pathway, with BRAF mutations being the most frequent ones, followed by NRAS, NF1 and MEK mutations. Increasing evidence shows that the MST2/Hippo pathway is also deregulated in melanoma. While mutations are rare, MST2/Hippo pathway core proteins expression levels are often dysregulated in melanoma. The expression of the tumour suppressor RASSF1A, a bona fide activator of the MST2 pathway, is silenced by promoter methylation in over half of melanomas and correlates with poor prognosis. Here, using mass spectrometry-based interaction proteomics we identified the Second Mitochondria-derived Activator of Caspases (SMAC) as a novel LATS1 interactor. We show that RASSF1A-dependent activation of the MST2 pathway promotes LATS1-SMAC interaction and negatively regulates the antiapoptotic signal mediated by the members of the IAP family. Moreover, proteomic experiments identified a common cluster of apoptotic regulators that bind to SMAC and LATS1. Mechanistic analysis shows that the LATS1-SMAC complex promotes XIAP ubiquitination and its subsequent degradation which ultimately results in apoptosis. Importantly, we show that the oncogenic BRAFV600E mutant prevents the proapoptotic signal mediated by the LATS1-SMAC complex while treatment of melanoma cell lines with BRAF inhibitors promotes the formation of this complex, indicating that inhibition of the LATS1-SMAC might be necessary for BRAFV600E-driven melanoma. Finally, we show that LATS1-SMAC interaction is regulated by the SMAC mimetic Birinapant, which requires C-IAP1 inhibition and the degradation of XIAP, suggesting that the MST2 pathway is part of the mechanism of action of Birinapant. Overall, the current work shows that SMAC-dependent apoptosis is regulated by the LATS1 tumour suppressor and supports the idea that LATS1 is a signalling hub that regulates the crosstalk between the MST2 pathway, the apoptotic network and the ERK pathway.

Extracellular matrix stiffness regulates degradation of MST2 via SCF ßTrCP.

The Hippo pathway plays central roles in relaying mechanical signals during development and tumorigenesis, but how the proteostasis of the Hippo kinase MST2 is regulated remains unknown. Here, we found that chemical inhibition of proteasomal proteolysis resulted in increased levels of MST2 in human breast epithelial cells. MST2 binds SCFßTrCP E3 ubiquitin ligase and silencing ßTrCP resulted in MST2 accumulation. Site-directed mutagenesis combined with computational molecular dynamics studies revealed that ßTrCP binds MST2 via a non-canonical degradation motif. Additionally, stiffer extracellular matrix, as well as hyperactivation of integrins resulted in enhanced MST2 degradation mediated by integrin-linked kinase (ILK) and actomyosin stress fibers. Our study uncovers the underlying biochemical mechanisms controlling MST2 degradation and underscores how alterations in the microenvironment rigidity regulate the proteostasis of a central Hippo pathway component.

High MST2 expression regulates lens epithelial cell apoptosis in age-related cataracts through YAP1 targeting GLUT1.

Age-related cataract (ARC) is a severe visual impairment disease and its pathogenesis remains unclear. This study investigated the relevance of MST2/YAP1/GLUT1 in ARC development in vivo and in vitro, and explored the role and possible mechanisms of this pathway in oxidative damage-mediated apoptosis of lens epithelial cells (LECs). Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry showed that MST2 and phosphorylated (p)-YAP (Ser127) protein levels were increased, and YAP1 and GLUT1 protein levels were decreased in LECs of ARC patients and aged mice. Additionally, differential expression of MST2 and YAP1 was associated with H2O2-induced apoptosis of human lens epithelial B3 (HLE-B3) cells. CCK-8 and Hoechst 33,342 apoptosis assays showed that MST2 and YAP1 were involved in H2O2-induced apoptosis of LECs. Subsequent experiments showed that, during MST2-mediated H2O2-induced apoptosis, p-YAP (Ser127) levels were elevated and immunofluorescence revealed nucleoplasmic translocation and inhibition of YAP1 protein expression. Furthermore, GLUT1 was in turn synergistically transcriptionally regulated by YAP1-TEAD1 in dual luciferase reporter assays. In conclusion, our study indicates that the MST2/YAP1/GLUT1 pathway plays a major role in the pathogenesis of ARC and LECs apoptosis, providing a new direction for future development of targeted inhibitors that block this signaling pathway to prevent, delay, or even cure ARC.

Glycogen accumulation and phase separation drives liver tumor initiation.

Glucose consumption is generally increased in tumor cells to support tumor growth. Interestingly, we report that glycogen accumulation is a key initiating oncogenic event during liver malignant transformation. We found that glucose-6-phosphatase (G6PC) catalyzing the last step of glycogenolysis is frequently downregulated to augment glucose storage in pre-malignant cells. Accumulated glycogen undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation, which results in the assembly of the Laforin-Mst1/2 complex and consequently sequesters Hippo kinases Mst1/2 in glycogen liquid droplets to relieve their inhibition on Yap. Moreover, G6PC or another glycogenolysis enzyme-liver glycogen phosphorylase (PYGL) deficiency in both human and mice results in glycogen storage disease along with liver enlargement and tumorigenesis in a Yap-dependent manner. Consistently, elimination of glycogen accumulation abrogates liver growth and cancer incidence, whereas increasing glycogen storage accelerates tumorigenesis. Thus, we concluded that cancer-initiating cells adapt a glycogen storing mode, which blocks Hippo signaling through glycogen phase separation to augment tumor incidence.

Macrophage MST1/2 Disruption Impairs Post-Infarction Cardiac Repair via LTB4.

[Figure: see text].

METTL3-Mediated lncRNA m6A Modification in the Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Induced by NEL-Like 1 Protein.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the regulatory mechanism of methyltransferase3 (METTL3) -mediated long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification in the osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) induced by NEL-like 1 protein (NELL-1). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and high- throughput sequencing for RNA (RNA-seq) were performed on hASCs. Osteogenic ability was detected by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining, Alizarin Red S(ARS) staining, ALP quantification and Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis (qRT-PCR). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis predicted the osteogenesis-related pathways enriched for the lncRNAs and identified the target lncRNAs. After overexpression and knockdown of METTL3, methylated RNA immunoprecipitation-qPCR (MeRIP-qPCR) and qRT-PCR were used to detect the levels of m6A modification and the expression of the target lncRNA, and the binding of both was confirmed by RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. The effects of lncRNA and METTL3 on phosphorylation of the key proteins of the pathway were detected by western blot analysis. RESULTS: In vitro experiments showed that METTL3 can promote osteogenic differentiation and that its expression level is upregulated. KEGG pathway analysis predicted that lncRNAs with differentially upregulated methylated peaks were enriched mostly in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, in which Serine/threonine protein kinase 3 (STK3) was the predicted target gene of the lncRNA RP11-44 N12.5. The m6A modification and expression of RP11-44 N12.5 were both regulated by METTL3. Subsequently, lncRNA RP11-44 N12.5 and METTL3 were found to regulate the phosphorylation levels of three key proteins in the MAPK signaling pathway, ERK, JNK and p38. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows, for the first time, that METTL3 can activate the MAPK signaling pathway by regulating the m6A modification and expression of a lncRNA, thereby enhancing the osteogenic differentiation of hASCs.

Regulation of MST complexes and activity via SARAH domain modifications.

Three elements of the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway - MST1/2, SAV1, and RASSF1-6 - share in common a C-terminal interaction motif termed the SARAH domain. Proteins containing this domain are capable of self-association as homodimers and also of trans-association with other SARAH domain containing proteins as well as selected additional proteins that lack this domain. Recently, the association of MST1/2 with itself or with other proteins has been shown to be regulated by phosphorylation at sites near or within the SARAH domain. In this review, we focus on recent findings regarding the regulation of such MST1/2 interactions, with an emphasis on the effects of these events on Hippo pathway activity.