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Loss‐of‐Function Genetic Screening Identifies Aldolase A as an Essential Driver for Liver Cancer Cell Growth Under Hypoxia
Author(s) -
Niu Yi,
Lin Ziyou,
Wan Arabella,
Sun Lei,
Yan Shijia,
Liang Heng,
Zhan Siyue,
Chen Dongshi,
Bu Xianzhang,
Liu Peiqing,
Chen Ceshi,
He Weiling,
Lu Xiongbin,
Wan Guohui
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.31846
Subject(s) - cancer research , biology , gene knockdown , hypoxia (environmental) , metastasis , aldolase a , tumor microenvironment , tumor hypoxia , glycolysis , tumor progression , cancer cell , cell growth , anaerobic glycolysis , cancer , gene , genetics , medicine , chemistry , biochemistry , enzyme , organic chemistry , tumor cells , oxygen , radiation therapy
Background and Aims Hypoxia is a common feature of the tumor microenvironment (TME), which promotes tumor progression, metastasis, and therapeutic drug resistance through a myriad of cell activities in tumor and stroma cells. While targeting hypoxic TME is emerging as a promising strategy for treating solid tumors, preclinical development of this approach is lacking in the study of HCC. Approach and Results From a genome‐wide CRISPR/CRISPR‐associated 9 gene knockout screening, we identified aldolase A (ALDOA), a key enzyme in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, as an essential driver for HCC cell growth under hypoxia. Knockdown of ALDOA in HCC cells leads to lactate depletion and consequently inhibits tumor growth. Supplementation with lactate partly rescues the inhibitory effects mediated by ALDOA knockdown. Upon hypoxia, ALDOA is induced by hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α and fat mass and obesity–associated protein–mediated N 6 ‐methyladenosine modification through transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation, respectively. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas shows that elevated levels of ALDOA are significantly correlated with poor prognosis of patients with HCC. In a screen of Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs based on structured hierarchical virtual platforms, we identified the sulfamonomethoxine derivative compound 5 (cpd‐5) as a potential inhibitor to target ALDOA, evidenced by the antitumor activity of cpd‐5 in preclinical patient‐derived xenograft models of HCC. Conclusions Our work identifies ALDOA as an essential driver for HCC cell growth under hypoxia, and we demonstrate that inhibition of ALDOA in the hypoxic TME is a promising therapeutic strategy for treating HCC.