HRAS-driven cancer cells are vulnerable to TRPML1 inhibition

Jewon Jung, Kwang Jin Cho, Ali K. Naji, Kristen N. Clemons, Ching On Wong, Mariana Villanueva, Steven Gregory, Nicholas E. Karagas, Lingxiao Tan, Hong Liang, Morgan A. Rousseau, Kelly M. Tomasevich, Andrew G. Sikora, Ilya Levental, Dharini van der Hoeven, Yong Zhou, John F. Hancock, Kartik Venkatachalam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

46 Scopus citations

Abstract

By serving as intermediaries between cellular metabolism and the bioenergetic demands of proliferation, endolysosomes allow cancer cells to thrive under normally detrimental conditions. Here, we show that an endolysosomal TRP channel, TRPML1, is necessary for the proliferation of cancer cells that bear activating mutations in HRAS. Expression of MCOLN1, which encodes TRPML1, is significantly elevated in HRAS-positive tumors and inversely correlated with patient prognosis. Concordantly, MCOLN1 knockdown or TRPML1 inhibition selectively reduces the proliferation of cancer cells that express oncogenic, but not wild-type, HRAS. Mechanistically, TRPML1 maintains oncogenic HRAS in signaling-competent nanoclusters at the plasma membrane by mediating cholesterol de-esterification and transport. TRPML1 inhibition disrupts the distribution and levels of cholesterol and thereby attenuates HRAS nanoclustering and plasma membrane abundance, ERK phosphorylation, and cell proliferation. These findings reveal a selective vulnerability of HRAS-driven cancers to TRPML1 inhibition, which may be leveraged as an actionable therapeutic strategy.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere46685
JournalEMBO Reports
Volume20
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2019
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

Keywords

  • HRAS
  • TRPML1
  • cancer
  • cholesterol
  • endolysosomes

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