The RNA M6A Reader YTHDF2 Maintains Oncogene Expression and Is a Targetable Dependency in Glioblastoma Stem Cells

Overview

Journal Cancer Discov

Specialty Oncology

Date 2020 Oct 7

PMID 33023892

Citations 193

Authors

Deobrat Dixit

Briana C Prager

Ryan C Gimple

Hui Xian Poh

Yang Wang

Qiulian Wu

Zhixin Qiu

Reilly L Kidwell

Leo J Y Kim

Qi Xie

Kristoffer Vitting-Seerup

Shruti Bhargava

Zhen Dong

Li Jiang

Zhe Zhu

Petra Hamerlik

Samie R Jaffrey

Jing Crystal Zhao

Xiuxing Wang

Jeremy N Rich

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Glioblastoma is a universally lethal cancer driven by glioblastoma stem cells (GSC). Here, we interrogated -methyladenosine (m6A) mRNA modifications in GSCs by methyl RNA immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing and transcriptome analysis, finding transcripts marked by m6A often upregulated compared with normal neural stem cells (NSC). Interrogating m6A regulators, GSCs displayed preferential expression, as well as and dependency, of the m6A reader YTHDF2, in contrast to NSCs. Although YTHDF2 has been reported to destabilize mRNAs, YTHDF2 stabilized and transcripts in GSCs in an m6A-dependent manner. We identified IGFBP3 as a downstream effector of the YTHDF2-MYC axis in GSCs. The IGF1/IGF1R inhibitor linsitinib preferentially targeted YTHDF2-expressing cells, inhibiting GSC viability without affecting NSCs and impairing glioblastoma growth. Thus, YTHDF2 links RNA epitranscriptomic modifications and GSC growth, laying the foundation for the YTHDF2-MYC-IGFBP3 axis as a specific and novel therapeutic target in glioblastoma. SIGNIFICANCE: Epitranscriptomics promotes cellular heterogeneity in cancer. RNA m6A landscapes of cancer and NSCs identified cell type-specific dependencies and therapeutic vulnerabilities. The m6A reader YTHDF2 stabilized mRNA specifically in cancer stem cells. Given the challenge of targeting MYC, YTHDF2 presents a therapeutic target to perturb MYC signaling in glioblastoma..

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