Sustained activation of EGFR-ERK1/2 signaling limits the response to tigecycline-induced mitochondrial respiratory deficiency in liver cancer

作者：Yangyang Zhou, Siying Wang, Wei Wu, Ling Jing, Haoyu Li, Qi Jia, Jiaojiao Zheng, Xingling Zheng, Ruobing Yu, Qiangxin Wu, Yao Shi, Cor Lieftink, Roderick L. Beijersbergen, Shengxian Yuan, René Bernards, Haojie Jin, Wenxin Qin · 发表于：EBioMedicine · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104397 · 被引用次数：22 · 研究领域：Mitochondrial Function and Pathology、DNA Repair Mechanisms、Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism

BACKGROUND: Identification of tumor dependencies is important for developing therapeutic strategies for liver cancer. METHODS: A genome-wide CRISPR screen was performed for finding critical vulnerabilities in liver cancer cells. Compounds screen, RNA sequencing, and human phospho-receptor tyrosine kinase arrays were applied to explore mechanisms and search for synergistic drugs. FINDINGS: We identified mitochondrial translation-related genes associated with proliferation for liver cancer cells. Tigecycline induced deficiency of respiratory chain by disturbing mitochondrial translation process and showed therapeutic potential in liver cancer. For liver cancer cells extremely insensitive to tigecycline, a compounds screen was applied to identify MEK inhibitors as synergistic drugs to tigecycline-insensitive liver cancer cells. Mechanistically, sustained activation of EGFR-ERK1/2-MYC cascade conferred the insensitivity to tigecycline, which was mediated by enhanced secretion of EREG and AREG. Moreover, glycolytic enzymes, such as HK2 and PKM2 were upregulated to stimulate glycolysisin a MYC-dependent manner. Tigecycline induced respiratory chain deficiency in combination with cutting off EGFR-ERK1/2-MYC cascade by MEK inhibitors or EGFR inhibitors, resulting in decrease of both oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis in liver cancer cells. INTERPRETATION: Our study proved that blocking EGFR-ERK1/2-MYC cascade combined with tigecycline could be a potential therapeutic strategy f...