Targeting the mevalonate pathway is a novel therapeutic approach to inhibit oncogenic FoxM1 transcription factor in human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Targeting the mevalonate pathway is a novel therapeutic approach to inhibit oncogenic FoxM1 transcription factor in human hepatocellular carcinoma. Oncotarget. 2018 Apr 20;9(30):21022-21035 Authors: Ogura S, Yoshida Y, Kurahashi T, Egawa M, Furuta K, Kiso S, Kamada Y, Hikita H, Eguchi H, Ogita H, Doki Y, Mori M, Tatsumi T, Takehara T Abstract Dysregulation of cell metabolism is a hallmark of cancer. The mevalonate pathway in lipid metabolism has been implicated as a potential target of cancer therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The role of the Forkhead Box M1 (FoxM1) transcription factor in HCC development has been well documented, however, its involvement in cancer metabolism of HCC has not been fully determined. Here, we hypothesized that FoxM1 is involved in the mevalonate pathway of cholesterol biosynthesis in HCC. Inhibition of the mevalonate pathway by statins, inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGCR), resulted in reduced expression of FoxM1 and increased cell death in human hepatoma cells. Re-exposure of mevalonate, a product of HMGCR, restored these effects. Likewise, knockdown of HMGCR reduced FoxM1 expression, indicating that FoxM1 expression was regulated by the mevalonate pathway in HCC. Mechanistically, protein geranylgeranylation was found to be responsible for FoxM1 expression and geranylgeranylated proteins, including RhoA, Rac1 or Cdc42, were shown to be involved in this process. In surg...
Source: Oncotarget - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncotarget Source Type: research