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Mitochondrial One-Carbon Flux has a Growth-Independent Role in Promoting Breast Cancer Metastasis

ABSTRACT: Progression of primary cancer to metastatic disease is the most common cause of death in cancer patients with minimal treatment options available. Canonical drugs mainly target the proliferative capacity of cancer cells, which often leaves slow-proliferating, persistent cancer cells unaffected. Thus, we aimed to identify metabolic determinants that enable cell plasticity and foster treatment resistance and tumor escape. Using a panel of anti-cancer drugs, we uncovered that antifolates, despite inducing strong growth arrest, did not impact the cancer cell’s motility potential, indicating that nucleotide synthesis is dispensable for cell motility. Prolonged treatment even selected for more motile cancer subpopulations. We found that cytosolic inhibition of DHFR by MTX only abrogates cytosolic folate cycle, while mitochondrial one-carbon cycle remains highly active. Despite a decreased cellular demand for biomass production, de novo serine synthesis and formate overflow are increased, suggesting that mitochondria provide a protective environment that allows serine catabolism to support cellular motility during nucleotide synthesis inhibition. Enhanced motility of growth-arrested cells was reduced by inhibition of PHGDH-dependent de novo serine synthesis and genetic silencing of mitochondrial one-carbon cycle. In vivo targeting of mitochondrial one-carbon cycle and formate overflow strongly and significantly reduced lung metastasis formation in an orthotopic breast cancer model. In summary, we identified mitochondrial serine catabolism as a targetable, growth-independent metabolic vulnerability to limit metastatic progression.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive HF

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens (human)

TISSUE(S): Cell Culture

DISEASE(S): Breast Cancer

SUBMITTER: Gunnar Dittmar

LAB HEAD: Gunnar Dittmar

PROVIDER: PXD027175 | Pride | 2022-06-09

REPOSITORIES: Pride

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Mitochondria preserve an autarkic one-carbon cycle to confer growth-independent cancer cell migration and metastasis.

Kiweler Nicole N Delbrouck Catherine C Pozdeev Vitaly I VI Neises Laura L Soriano-Baguet Leticia L Eiden Kim K Xian Feng F Benzarti Mohaned M Haase Lara L Koncina Eric E Schmoetten Maryse M Jaeger Christian C Noman Muhammad Zaeem MZ Vazquez Alexei A Janji Bassam B Dittmar Gunnar G Brenner Dirk D Letellier Elisabeth E Meiser Johannes J

Nature communications 20220516 1

Metastasis is the most common cause of death in cancer patients. Canonical drugs target mainly the proliferative capacity of cancer cells, which leaves slow-proliferating, persistent cancer cells unaffected. Metabolic determinants that contribute to growth-independent functions are still poorly understood. Here we show that antifolate treatment results in an uncoupled and autarkic mitochondrial one-carbon (1C) metabolism during cytosolic 1C metabolism impairment. Interestingly, antifolate depend ...[more]

PMID: 35577770

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Project description:This is the model described in the article: In silico experimentation with a model of hepatic mitochondrial folate metabolism. H. Frederik Nijhout, Michael C Reed, Shi-Ling Lam, Barry Shane, Jesse F Gregory and Cornelia M Ulrich, Theor Biol Med Model 2006,3:40; PubmedID: 17150100 ; DOI: 10.1186/1742-4682-3-40 ; Abstract: BACKGROUND: In eukaryotes, folate metabolism is compartmentalized and occurs in both the cytosol and the mitochondria. The function of this compartmentalization and the great changes that occur in the mitochondrial compartment during embryonic development and in rapidly growing cancer cells are gradually becoming understood, though many aspects remain puzzling and controversial. APPROACH: We explore the properties of cytosolic and mitochondrial folate metabolism by experimenting with a mathematical model of hepatic one-carbon metabolism. The model is based on known biochemical properties of mitochondrial and cytosolic enzymes. We use the model to study questions about the relative roles of the cytosolic and mitochondrial folate cycles posed in the experimental literature. We investigate: the control of the direction of the mitochondrial and cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) reactions, the role of the mitochondrial bifunctional enzyme, the role of the glycine cleavage system, the effects of variations in serine and glycine inputs, and the effects of methionine and protein loading. CONCLUSION: The model reproduces many experimental findings and gives new insights into the underlying properties of mitochondrial folate metabolism. Particularly interesting is the remarkable stability of formate production in the mitochondria in the face of large changes in serine and glycine input. The model shows that in the presence of the bifunctional enzyme (as in embryonic tissues and cancer cells), the mitochondria primarily support cytosolic purine and pyrimidine synthesis via the export of formate, while in adult tissues the mitochondria produce serine for gluconeogenesis. This model does not reproduce the results in the article completely, but most steady state concentrations are in a range of 10% around the published values. Also parameterscans give nearly identical results as shown in the article. In the SBML version model the volumes of the mitochondrion, the cytoplasm and the cell were all set to one to obtain the same equations as described in the supplemental materials of the article. The total folate is equally split between the cytosol and the mitochondrion and divided by 3/4 for the cytosol and 1/4 for the mitochondrion, respectively. To obtain an SBML model in which the volumes of the compartments, cytosol and mito , are used, the model needs to be altered as follows: for the initial distribution of folate the terms 3/4 and 1/4 have to be replaced by volumes of cytosol and mitochondria respectively in the transport reactions between mitochondrion and cytosol the stoichiometry of the mitochondrial reactants has to be set from 3 to 1 and in the first part of the according rate laws the factor mito/3 should simply be replaced with mito . the stoichiometries of src and dmg have to be changed to cell/mito for mitchondrial and cell/cytosol for cytosolic reactions involving these two species. While the concentrations stay the same after these alteration, the reaction fluxes change by a factor of cytosol and mito for cytosolic and mitchondrial reactions, respectively. Originally created by libAntimony v1.3 (using libSBML 3.4.1) This model originates from BioModels Database: A Database of Annotated Published Models (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/biomodels/). It is copyright (c) 2005-2011 The BioModels.net Team. To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this encoded model have been dedicated to the public domain worldwide. Please refer to CC0 Public Domain Dedication for more information. In summary, you are entitled to use this encoded model in absolutely any manner you deem suitable, verbatim, or with modification, alone or embedded it in a larger context, redistribute it, commercially or not, in a restricted way or not.. To cite BioModels Database, please use: Li C, Donizelli M, Rodriguez N, Dharuri H, Endler L, Chelliah V, Li L, He E, Henry A, Stefan MI, Snoep JL, Hucka M, Le Novère N, Laibe C (2010) BioModels Database: An enhanced, curated and annotated resource for published quantitative kinetic models. BMC Syst Biol., 4:92.

Project description:MASTL (Microtubule associated serine-threonine kinase-like) is a relatively recently identified mitotic accelerator. There are also indications of its role in cancer progression, especially in breast cancer, but the molecular mechanisms behind this and the cell cycle independent functions of MASTL are poorly understood. Regulation of cell adhesion and actin dynamics play a central role in governing cell contractility, migration and cell division in normal and cancer cells. Here, we identify MASTL as regulator of cell contractility and activator of the transcriptional co-activator MTRF-A. We show that depletion of MASTL increases cell contact with the extracellular matrix, reduces contractile actin stress fibers in normal and breast cancer cells. Importantly, depletion of MASTL also leads to strongly impairs motility of breast cancer cells. Our transcriptome and proteome profiling revealed that depletion of MASTL impairs transcription and expression of several MRTF-A target genes implicated in cellular movement and actomyosin contraction, including Rho Guanine nucleotide exchange factor 2 (GEF-H1, ARHGEF2) and tropomyosin 4.2 (TPM4). Mechanistically, we find that MASTL is necessary for serum-induced activation of SRF/MTRF-A transcription and that exogenous expression of GEF-H1 in MASTL depleted cells is sufficient to restore cell contractility. Taken together, our results suggest that MASTL is a previously undescribed key regulator of cell morphology and the actin cytoskeleton through transcriptional control of multiple adhesion and actin cytoskeleton regulating genes with key roles in contractility, cell adhesion and migration. MASTL (Microtubule associated serine-threonine kinase-like) is a relatively recently identified mitotic accelerator. There are also indications of its role in cancer progression, especially in breast cancer, but the molecular mechanisms behind this and the cell cycle independent functions of MASTL are poorly understood. Regulation of cell adhesion and actin dynamics play a central role in cell migration, morphology and cancer progression, but the role of MASTL in these processes has not been evaluated. Here, we show that depletion of MASTL increases cell contact with the extracellular matrix in breast cancer cells. Importantly, depletion of MASTL also leads to reduction of contractile actin stress fibers and decreased cell motility. Further, our transcriptome and proteome profiling revealed that mechanistically depletion of MASTL impairs transcription and expression of regulators of cellular movement and actomyosin contraction, including Rho Guanine nucleotide exchange factor 2 (GEF-H1, ARHGEF2) and tropomyosin 4.2 (TPM4). Further, we show that the transcriptional changes are caused by defectiveness of the serum response factor (SRF) signalling. Importantly, this study reveals advanced role for MASTL in interphase cells that activates a transcriptional program strongly impacting on the expression of regulators of cellular motility and actomyosin contraction.

Dataset Information

Mitochondrial One-Carbon Flux has a Growth-Independent Role in Promoting Breast Cancer Metastasis

Publications

Mitochondria preserve an autarkic one-carbon cycle to confer growth-independent cancer cell migration and metastasis.

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