학술논문

A super-enhancer-regulated RNA-binding protein cascade drives pancreatic cancer
Document Type
article
Source
Nature Communications. 14(1)
Subject
Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Biological Sciences
Rare Diseases
Digestive Diseases
Pancreatic Cancer
Genetics
Cancer
Aetiology
2.1 Biological and endogenous factors
Male
Animals
Mice
RNA
Epigenesis
Genetic
Regulatory Sequences
Nucleic Acid
Pancreatic Neoplasms
Carcinoma
Pancreatic Ductal
Methyltransferases
RNA-Binding Proteins
Language
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy in need of new therapeutic options. Using unbiased analyses of super-enhancers (SEs) as sentinels of core genes involved in cell-specific function, here we uncover a druggable SE-mediated RNA-binding protein (RBP) cascade that supports PDAC growth through enhanced mRNA translation. This cascade is driven by a SE associated with the RBP heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein F, which stabilizes protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) to, in turn, control the translational mediator ubiquitin-associated protein 2-like. All three of these genes and the regulatory SE are essential for PDAC growth and coordinately regulated by the Myc oncogene. In line with this, modulation of the RBP network by PRMT1 inhibition reveals a unique vulnerability in Myc-high PDAC patient organoids and markedly reduces tumor growth in male mice. Our study highlights a functional link between epigenetic regulation and mRNA translation and identifies components that comprise unexpected therapeutic targets for PDAC.