1. The therapeutically actionable long non-coding RNA ‘T-RECS’ is essential to cancer cells’ survival in NRAS/MAPK-driven melanoma
- Author
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Feichtenschlager, Valentin, Chen, Linan, Zheng, Yixuan James, Ho, Wilson, Sanlorenzo, Martina, Vujic, Igor, Fewings, Eleanor, Lee, Albert, Chen, Christopher, Callanan, Ciara, Lin, Kevin, Qu, Tiange, Hohlova, Dasha, Vujic, Marin, Hwang, Yeonjoo, Lai, Kevin, Chen, Stephanie, Nguyen, Thuan, Muñoz, Denise P, Kohwi, Yoshinori, Posch, Christian, Daud, Adil, Rappersberger, Klemens, Kohwi-Shigematsu, Terumi, Coppé, Jean-Philippe, and Ortiz-Urda, Susana
- Subjects
Biomedical and Clinical Sciences ,Oncology and Carcinogenesis ,Cancer ,Genetics ,Development of treatments and therapeutic interventions ,5.1 Pharmaceuticals ,Humans ,Mice ,Animals ,Melanoma ,RNA ,Long Noncoding ,Apoptosis ,Oligonucleotides ,Antisense ,Cell Line ,Tumor ,Membrane Proteins ,GTP Phosphohydrolases ,T-RECS ,lncRNA ,MAPK-pathway ,hnRNPA2/B1 ,Antisense oligonucleotides ,HT-KAM ,Oncology & Carcinogenesis ,Biochemistry and cell biology ,Oncology and carcinogenesis - Abstract
Finding effective therapeutic targets to treat NRAS-mutated melanoma remains a challenge. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) recently emerged as essential regulators of tumorigenesis. Using a discovery approach combining experimental models and unbiased computational analysis complemented by validation in patient biospecimens, we identified a nuclear-enriched lncRNA (AC004540.4) that is upregulated in NRAS/MAPK-dependent melanoma, and that we named T-RECS. Considering potential innovative treatment strategies, we designed antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to target T-RECS. T-RECS ASOs reduced the growth of melanoma cells and induced apoptotic cell death, while having minimal impact on normal primary melanocytes. Mechanistically, treatment with T-RECS ASOs downregulated the activity of pro-survival kinases and reduced the protein stability of hnRNPA2/B1, a pro-oncogenic regulator of MAPK signaling. Using patient- and cell line- derived tumor xenograft mouse models, we demonstrated that systemic treatment with T-RECS ASOs significantly suppressed the growth of melanoma tumors, with no noticeable toxicity. ASO-mediated T-RECS inhibition represents a promising RNA-targeting approach to improve the outcome of MAPK pathway-activated melanoma.
- Published
- 2024