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Williams CH, Neitzel LR, Cornell J, Rea S, Mills I, Silver MS, Ahmad JD, Birukov KG, Birukova A, Brem H, Tyler B, Bar EE, Hong CC. GPR68-ATF4 signaling is a novel prosurvival pathway in glioblastoma activated by acidic extracellular microenvironment. Exp Hematol Oncol 2024; 13:13. [PMID: 38291540 PMCID: PMC10829393 DOI: 10.1186/s40164-023-00468-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) stands as a formidable challenge in oncology because of its aggressive nature and severely limited treatment options. Despite decades of research, the survival rates for GBM remain effectively stagnant. A defining hallmark of GBM is a highly acidic tumor microenvironment, which is thought to activate pro-tumorigenic pathways. This acidification is the result of altered tumor metabolism favoring aerobic glycolysis, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. Low extracellular pH confers radioresistant tumors to glial cells. Notably GPR68, an acid sensing GPCR, is upregulated in radioresistant GBM. Usage of Lorazepam, which has off target agonism of GPR68, is linked to worse clinical outcomes for a variety of cancers. However, the role of tumor microenvironment acidification in GPR68 activation has not been assessed in cancer. Here we interrogate the role of GPR68 specifically in GBM cells using a novel highly specific small molecule inhibitor of GPR68 named Ogremorphin (OGM) to induce the iron mediated cell death pathway: ferroptosis. METHOD OGM was identified in a non-biased zebrafish embryonic development screen and validated with Morpholino and CRISPR based approaches. Next, A GPI-anchored pH reporter, pHluorin2, was stably expressed in U87 glioblastoma cells to probe extracellular acidification. Cell survival assays, via nuclei counting and cell titer glo, were used to demonstrate sensitivity to GPR68 inhibition in twelve immortalized and PDX GBM lines. To determine GPR68 inhibition's mechanism of cell death we use DAVID pathway analysis of RNAseq. Our major indication, ferroptosis, was then confirmed by western blotting and qRT-PCR of reporter genes including TFRC. This finding was further validated by transmission electron microscopy and liperfluo staining to assess lipid peroxidation. Lastly, we use siRNA and CRISPRi to demonstrate the critical role of ATF4 suppression via GPR68 for GBM survival. RESULTS We used a pHLourin2 probe to demonstrate how glioblastoma cells acidify their microenvironment to activate the commonly over expressed acid sensing GPCR, GPR68. Using our small molecule inhibitor OGM and genetic means, we show that blocking GPR68 signaling results in robust cell death in all thirteen glioblastoma cell lines tested, irrespective of genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity, or resistance to the mainstay GBM chemotherapeutic temozolomide. We use U87 and U138 glioblastoma cell lines to show how selective induction of ferroptosis occurs in an ATF4-dependent manner. Importantly, OGM was not-acutely toxic to zebrafish and its inhibitory effects were found to spare non-malignant neural cells. CONCLUSION These results indicate GPR68 emerges as a critical sensor for an autocrine pro-tumorigenic signaling cascade triggered by extracellular acidification in glioblastoma cells. In this context, GPR68 suppresses ATF4, inhibition of GPR68 increases expression of ATF4 which leads to ferroptotic cell death. These findings provide a promising therapeutic approach to selectively induce ferroptosis in glioblastoma cells while sparing healthy neural tissue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles H Williams
- Department of Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Henry Ford Health + Michigan State Health Sciences, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Leif R Neitzel
- Department of Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Henry Ford Health + Michigan State Health Sciences, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Jessica Cornell
- Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Samantha Rea
- Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ian Mills
- Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Maya S Silver
- Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jovanni D Ahmad
- Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Konstantin G Birukov
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Anna Birukova
- Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Henry Brem
- Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Betty Tyler
- Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Eli E Bar
- Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Charles C Hong
- Department of Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI, USA.
- Henry Ford Health + Michigan State Health Sciences, Detroit, MI, USA.
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Damaghi M, Wojtkowiak JW, Gillies RJ. pH sensing and regulation in cancer. Front Physiol 2013; 4:370. [PMID: 24381558 PMCID: PMC3865727 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2013.00370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 361] [Impact Index Per Article: 32.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2013] [Accepted: 11/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cells maintain intracellular pH (pHi) within a narrow range (7.1–7.2) by controlling membrane proton pumps and transporters whose activity is set by intra-cytoplasmic pH sensors. These sensors have the ability to recognize and induce cellular responses to maintain the pHi, often at the expense of acidifying the extracellular pH. In turn, extracellular acidification impacts cells via specific acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) and proton-sensing G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). In this review, we will discuss some of the major players in proton sensing at the plasma membrane and their downstream consequences in cancer cells and how these pH-mediated changes affect processes such as migration and metastasis. The complex mechanisms by which they transduce acid pH signals to the cytoplasm and nucleus are not well understood. However, there is evidence that expression of proton-sensing GPCRs such as GPR4, TDAG8, and OGR1 can regulate aspects of tumorigenesis and invasion, including cofilin and talin regulated actin (de-)polymerization. Major mechanisms for maintenance of pHi homeostasis include monocarboxylate, bicarbonate, and proton transporters. Notably, there is little evidence suggesting a link between their activities and those of the extracellular H+-sensors, suggesting a mechanistic disconnect between intra- and extracellular pH. Understanding the mechanisms of pH sensing and regulation may lead to novel and informed therapeutic strategies that can target acidosis, a common physical hallmark of solid tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehdi Damaghi
- Department of Cancer Imaging and Metabolism, Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Jonathan W Wojtkowiak
- Department of Cancer Imaging and Metabolism, Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Robert J Gillies
- Department of Cancer Imaging and Metabolism, Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute Tampa, FL, USA
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