A germline SNP in BRMS1 predisposes patients with lung adenocarcinoma to metastasis and can be ameliorated by targeting c-fos

About 50% of patients with early-stage, surgically resected lung cancer will develop distant metastasis. There remains an unmet need to identify patients likely to develop recurrence and to design innovative therapies to decrease this risk. Two primary isoforms of BRMS1, v1 and v2, are present in humans. Using next-generation sequencing of BRMS1 on matched human noncancerous lung tissue and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) specimens, we identified single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1052566 that results in an A273V mutation of BRMS1v2. This SNP is homozygous (BRMS1v2(A273V/A273V)) in 8% of the population and correlates with aggressive biology in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Mechanistically, we show that BRMS1v2 A273V abolishes the metastasis suppressor function of BRMS1v2 and promotes robust cell invasion and metastases by activation of c-fos-mediated gene-specific transcriptional regulation. BRMS1v2 A273V increases cell invasion in vitro and increases metastases in both tail-vein injection xenografts and LUAD patient-derived organoid (PDO) intracardiac injection metastasis in vivo models. Moreover, we show that BRMS1v2 A273V fails to interact with nuclear Src, thereby activating intratumoral c-fos in vitro. Higher c-fos results in up-regulation of CEACAM6, which drives metastases in vitro and in vivo. Using both xenograft and PDO metastasis models, we repurposed T5224 for treatment, a c-fos pharmacologic inhibitor investigated in clinical trials for arthritis, and observed suppression of metastases in BRMS1v2(A273V/A273V) LUAD in mice. Collectively, we elucidate the mechanism of BRMS1v2(A273V/A273V)-induced metastases and offer a putative therapeutic strategy for patients with LUAD who have this germline alteration.

Automated summary

This study reveals the role of BRMS1 gene mutation in the metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma. The BRMS1v2(A273V/A273V) mutation activates c-fos-mediated gene transcriptional regulation, promoting tumor cell invasion and metastasis. This finding offers a potential therapeutic strategy for patients with lung adenocarcinoma.