Degradation of AMPK-α1 sensitizes BRAF inhibitor-resistant melanoma cells to arginine deprivation.

ABSTRACT: Melanomas harboring BRAF mutation (V600E) are known to recur frequently following treatment with BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) despite a high initial response rate. Our previous study has uncovered that BRAFi-resistant melanoma (BR) cells are vulnerable to arginine deprivation. It has been reported that naïve melanoma cells undergo autophagy and re-express argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1) to enable them to synthesize arginine for survival when encountering arginine deprivation. Abolishing these two factors in BR cells confers sensitivity to arginine deprivation. In this report, we further demonstrated that downregulation of AMPK-α1 in BR cells is a major factor contributing to impairment of autophagy as evidenced by decreased autophagosome formation. These BR cells also showed a metabolic s

SUBMITTER: Li YY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5709618 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature