Abstract 1791: Metabolic rewiring promotes metastatic potential upon glutamine deprivation in STK11 null KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Shannon Prior, Logan Sands, Sean Lenahan, Hailey Sarausky, Melissa Scheiber, David Seward, Paula Deming
Journal: Cancer Research (2024)

Abstract Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) with concurrent oncogenic KRAS and STK11 loss-of-function mutations define an aggressive subtype characterized, in part, by increased metastasis. Loss of STK11, a tumor suppressor and nutrient sensor, leads to dysregulation of many critical cellular processes, including metabolism. As such, STK11 null cancers are “glutamine addicted” to support proliferative properties and the tumor microenvironment therefore becomes glutamine depleted. We hypothesize that conditions of glutamine stress promote metastatic potential in STK11 null KRAS-driven LUAD due to metabolic rewiring. To test this hypothesis, we utilized a cell culture model of KRAS-driven LUAD cell lines and corresponding STK11 knockout cell lines (∆STK11). Parental and ∆STK11 cells underwent the Seahorse mitochondrial stress test in full and glutamine-deficient media to obtain parameters of mitochondrial respiration at baseline and under conditions reflective of the tumor microenvironment, respectively. At baseline, ∆STK11 cells had a hypermetabolic phenotype associated with enhanced glutamine utilization. Deprivation of glutamine resulted in decreased mitochondrial respiration along with a significant increase in live, detached ∆STK11 cells compared to the parental line. Upon further examination, the detached ∆STK11 cells maintained the ability to re-adhere and proliferate in full media while the detached parental cells did not. Additionally, expression of pro-survival, anti-apoptotic and EMT markers in ∆STK11 cells were increased upon glutamine deprivation. To determine the mechanism(s) underlying this pro-metastatic phenotype, we employed heavy nitrogen labeling which revealed an upregulation of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP). The HBP is an offshoot of glycolysis that serves as a central hub to regulate many cancer fitness pathways via O-GlcNAcylation; the addition of a GlcNAc moiety to serine/threonine residues of target proteins. Further assessment of O-GlcNAcylation levels via western and far western blot analysis revealed that parental cells had decreasing HBP flux concordant with decreasing glutamine concentration while ∆STK11 cells, conversely, had enhanced HBP flux upon decreasing glutamine availability. These observations suggest ∆STK11 cells utilize the HBP as a protective shunt under decreased glutamine availability. We are currently characterizing the invasive potential and anchorage-independence of parental and ∆STK11 LUAD cells upon glutamine deprivation. Future studies aim to establish the impact of HBP perturbation, both genetically and pharmacologically, on the described measures of metastatic potential. Overall, this work reveals novel insight into the molecular mechanisms altered downstream of STK11 loss that link glutamine metabolism with metastatic properties in KRAS-driven LUAD. Citation Format: Shannon Prior, Logan Sands, Sean Lenahan, Hailey Sarausky, Melissa Scheiber, David Seward, Paula Deming. Metabolic rewiring promotes metastatic potential upon glutamine deprivation in STK11 null KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 1791.