Suppression of stress granule formation is a vulnerability imposed by mutant p53

Abstract Missense mutations in the TP53 (p53) gene have been linked to malignant progression. However, our in-silico analyses reveal that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with mutant p53 (mutp53) have better overall survival compared to those with p53-null (p53null) HCC, unlike other cancer t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Elizabeth Thoenen, Atul Ranjan, Alejandro Parrales, Shigeto Nishikawa, Dan A. Dixon, Sugako Oka, Tomoo Iwakuma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-03-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57539-6
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Missense mutations in the TP53 (p53) gene have been linked to malignant progression. However, our in-silico analyses reveal that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with mutant p53 (mutp53) have better overall survival compared to those with p53-null (p53null) HCC, unlike other cancer types. Given the historical use of sorafenib (SOR) monotherapy for advanced HCC, we hypothesize that mutp53 increases sensitivity to SOR, a multikinase inhibitor that induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Here we show that mutp53 inhibits stress granule (SG) formation by binding to an ER stress sensor, PKR-like ER kinase (PERK), and a key SG component, GAP SH3 domain-binding protein 1 (G3BP1), contributing to increased sensitivity of SG-competent cells and xenografts to ER stress inducers including SOR. Our study identifies a unique vulnerability imposed by mutp53, suggesting mutp53 as a biomarker for ER stress-inducing agents and highlighting the importance of SG inhibition for cancer treatment.
ISSN:2041-1723