4.7 Article

HIF-1α-induced expression of m6A reader YTHDF1 drives hypoxia-induced autophagy and malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma by promoting ATG2A and ATG14 translation

Journal

Publisher

SPRINGERNATURE
DOI: 10.1038/s41392-020-00453-8

Keywords

-

Funding

  1. Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81530048, 31930020]
  2. Key Laboratory of Liver Transplantation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences [2017PT32008, 2018PT31043, 2019PT320015]
  3. National Natural Science Foundation of China [81870488, 81872365, 81972266, 81772569]
  4. Shenzhen Foundation of Science and Technology [JCYJ20170817172116272]
  5. Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen [SZSM201812079]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

YTHDF1 plays a key role in hepatocellular carcinoma, with its expression level correlated to hypoxia-induced autophagy, tumor growth, and metastasis, serving as an independent prognostic factor. HIF-1 alpha regulates YTHDF1 transcription under hypoxia to promote translation of autophagy-related genes, contributing to autophagy and malignancy in HCC progression.
N6-methyladenosine (m6A), and its reader protein YTHDF1, play a pivotal role in human tumorigenesis by affecting nearly every stage of RNA metabolism. Autophagy activation is one of the ways by which cancer cells survive hypoxia. However, the possible involvement of m6A modification of mRNA in hypoxia-induced autophagy was unexplored in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, specific variations in YTHDF1 expression were detected in YTHDF1-overexpressing, -knockout, and -knockdown HCC cells, HCC organoids, and HCC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) murine models. YTHDF1 expression and hypoxia-induced autophagy were significantly correlated in vitro; significant overexpression of YTHDF1 in HCC tissues was associated with poor prognosis. Multivariate cox regression analysis identified YTHDF1 expression as an independent prognostic factor in patients with HCC. Multiple HCC models confirmed that YTHDF1 deficiency inhibited HCC autophagy, growth, and metastasis. Luciferase reporter assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that HIF-1 alpha regulated YTHDF1 transcription by directly binding to its promoter region under hypoxia. The results of methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing, proteomics, and polysome profiling indicated that YTHDF1 contributed to the translation of autophagy-related genes ATG2A and ATG14 by binding to m6A-modified ATG2A and ATG14 mRNA, thus facilitating autophagy and autophagy-related malignancy of HCC. Taken together, HIF-1 alpha-induced YTHDF1 expression was associated with hypoxia-induced autophagy and autophagy-related HCC progression via promoting translation of autophagy-related genes ATG2A and ATG14 in a m6A-dependent manner. Our findings suggest that YTHDF1 is a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for patients with HCC.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available