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Lysosomal trafficking mediated by Arl8b and BORC promotes invasion of cancer cells that survive radiation. Communications biology Wu, P. H., Onodera, Y. n., Giaccia, A. J., Le, Q. T., Shimizu, S. n., Shirato, H. n., Nam, J. M. 2020; 3 (1): 620

Abstract

Enhanced invasiveness, a critical determinant of metastasis and poor prognosis, has been observed in cancer cells that survive cancer therapy, including radiotherapy. Here, we show that invasiveness in radiation-surviving cancer cells is associated with alterations in lysosomal exocytosis caused by the enhanced activation of Arl8b, a small GTPase that regulates lysosomal trafficking. The binding of Arl8b with its effector, SKIP, is increased after radiation through regulation of BORC-subunits. Knockdown of Arl8b or BORC-subunits decreases lysosomal exocytosis and the invasiveness of radiation-surviving cells. Notably, high expression of ARL8B and BORC-subunit genes is significantly correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Sp1, an ATM-regulated transcription factor, is found to increase BORC-subunit genes expression after radiation. In vivo experiments show that ablation of Arl8b decreases IR-induced invasive tumor growth and distant metastasis. These findings suggest that BORC-Arl8b-mediated lysosomal trafficking is a target for improving radiotherapy by inhibiting invasive tumor growth and metastasis.

View details for DOI 10.1038/s42003-020-01339-9

View details for PubMedID 33110168