The polyamine-hypusine circuit controls an oncogenic translational program essential for malignant conversion in MYC-driven lymphoma

The MYC oncoprotein is activated in a broad spectrum of human malignancies and transcriptionally reprograms the genome to drive cancer cell growth. Given this, it is unclear if targeting a single effector of MYC will have therapeutic benefit. MYC activates the polyamine-hypusine circuit, which post-translationally modifies the eukaryotic translation factor eIF5A. The roles of this circuit in cancer are unclear. Here we report essential intrinsic roles for hypusinated eIF5A in the development and maintenance of MYC-driven lymphoma, where loss of eIF5A hypusination abolishes malignant transformation of MYC-overexpressing B cells. Mechanistically, integrating RNA-seq, Ribo-seq and proteomic analyses revealed that efficient translation of select targets is dependent upon eIF5A hypusination, including regulators of G1-to-S phase cell cycle progression and DNA replication. This circuit thus controls MYC’s proliferative response, and it is also activated across multiple malignancies. These findings suggest the hypusine circuit as a therapeutic target for several human tumor types.