FBXW7 regulates glucocorticoid response in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia by targeting the glucocorticoid receptor for degradation

Loss of function mutation in FBXW7, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, is associated with good prognosis and early glucocorticoid treatment response in childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) by unknown mechanisms. Here, we show that FBXW7 targets the glucocorticoid receptor alpha (GR alpha) for ubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation in a manner dependent on glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta-mediated phsophorylation. FBXW7 inactivation caused elevated GR alpha levels, and enhanced the transcriptional response to glucocorticoids. There was significant enhancement of GR transcriptional responses in FBXW7-deficient cell lines and primary T-ALL samples, in particular, for those pro-apoptotic regulatory proteins, BIM and PUMA. Reduced FBXW7 expression or function promoted glucocorticoid sensitivity, but not sensitivity to other chemotherapeutic agents used in T-ALL. Moreover, this was a general feature of different cancer cell types. Taken together, our work defines GR alpha as a novel FBXW7 substrate and demonstrates that favorable patient prognosis in T-ALL is associated with FBXW7 mutations due to enhanced GR alpha levels and steroid sensitivity. These findings suggest that inactivation of FBXW7, a putative tumor suppressor protein, may create a synthetic lethal state in the presence of specific anticancer therapies.