1. Metabolic Reprogramming by MYCN Confers Dependence on the Serine-Glycine-One-Carbon Biosynthetic Pathway
- Author
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Xia, Yingfeng, Ye, Bingwei, Ding, Jane, Yu, Yajie, Alptekin, Ahmet, Thangaraju, Muthusamy, Prasad, Puttur D, Ding, Zhi-Chun, Park, Eun Jeong, Choi, Jeong-Hyeon, Gao, Bei, Fiehn, Oliver, Yan, Chunhong, Dong, Zheng, Zha, Yunhong, and Ding, Han-Fei
- Subjects
Neurosciences ,Genetics ,Neuroblastoma ,Cancer ,Rare Diseases ,Clinical Research ,Pediatric ,5.1 Pharmaceuticals ,Development of treatments and therapeutic interventions ,Biosynthetic Pathways ,Carbon ,Cell Line ,Tumor ,Child ,Glycine ,Humans ,N-Myc Proto-Oncogene Protein ,Serine ,Oncology and Carcinogenesis ,Oncology & Carcinogenesis - Abstract
MYCN amplification drives the development of neuronal cancers in children and adults. Given the challenge in therapeutically targeting MYCN directly, we searched for MYCN-activated metabolic pathways as potential drug targets. Here we report that neuroblastoma cells with MYCN amplification show increased transcriptional activation of the serine-glycine-one-carbon (SGOC) biosynthetic pathway and an increased dependence on this pathway for supplying glucose-derived carbon for serine and glycine synthesis. Small molecule inhibitors that block this metabolic pathway exhibit selective cytotoxicity to MYCN-amplified cell lines and xenografts by inducing metabolic stress and autophagy. Transcriptional activation of the SGOC pathway in MYCN-amplified cells requires both MYCN and ATF4, which form a positive feedback loop, with MYCN activation of ATF4 mRNA expression and ATF4 stabilization of MYCN protein by antagonizing FBXW7-mediated MYCN ubiquitination. Collectively, these findings suggest a coupled relationship between metabolic reprogramming and increased sensitivity to metabolic stress, which could be exploited as a strategy for selective cancer therapy. SIGNIFICANCE: This study identifies a MYCN-dependent metabolic vulnerability and suggests a coupled relationship between metabolic reprogramming and increased sensitivity to metabolic stress, which could be exploited for cancer therapy.See related commentary by Rodriguez Garcia and Arsenian-Henriksson, p. 3818.
- Published
- 2019