Oncogenic Kit signalling on the Golgi is suppressed by blocking secretory trafficking with M-COPA in gastrointestinal stromal tumours

• Published in: Cancer letters 2018-02, Vol.415, p.1-10
• Main Authors: Obata, Yuuki, Horikawa, Keita, Shiina, Isamu, Takahashi, Tsuyoshi, Murata, Takatsugu, Tasaki, Yasutaka, Suzuki, Kyohei, Yonekura, Keita, Esumi, Hiroyasu, Nishida, Toshirou, Abe, Ryo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cancer; Cell growth; Endoplasmic reticulum; Gastrointestinal cancer; Gene expression; GIST; Golgi apparatus; Growth factors; Imatinib; Immunoglobulins; Inhibitor drugs; Kinases; Kit tyrosine kinase; M-COPA; Medical prognosis; Metastases; Mutation; Phosphorylation; Protein transport; Protein-tyrosine kinase; Proteins; Rodents; Signal transduction; Software; Targeted cancer therapy; Tumorigenesis; Tumors
• ISSN: 0304-3835; 1872-7980
• DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2017.11.032

Most gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) are caused by constitutively active mutations in Kit tyrosine kinase. The drug imatinib, a specific Kit inhibitor, improves the prognosis of metastatic GIST patients, but these patients become resistant to the drug by acquiring secondary mutations in the Kit kinase domain. We recently reported that a Kit mutant causes oncogenic signals only on the Golgi apparatus in GISTs. In this study, we show that in GIST, 2-methylcoprophilinamide (M-COPA, also known as “AMF-26”), an inhibitor of biosynthetic protein trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi, suppresses Kit autophosphorylation at Y703/Y721/Y730/Y936, resulting in blockade of oncogenic signalling. Results of our M-COPA treatment assay show that Kit Y703/Y730/Y936 in the ER are dephosphorylated by protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), thus the ER-retained Kit is unable to activate downstream molecules. ER-localized Kit Y721 is not phosphorylated, but not due to PTPs. Importantly, M-COPA can inhibit the activation of the Kit kinase domain mutant, resulting in suppression of imatinib-resistant GIST proliferation. Our study demonstrates that Kit autophosphorylation is spatio-temporally regulated and may offer a new strategy for treating imatinib-resistant GISTs. •Autophosphorylation of Kit mutant at Y703/Y730/Y721/Y936 occurs mainly on the Golgi in GISTs.•M-COPA blocks Kit trafficking from the ER to the Golgi, leading to suppression of oncogenic signals.•Kit Y703/Y730/Y936 in the ER are dephosphorylated by protein tyrosine phosphatases.•M-COPA inhibits oncogenic signalling by targeting drug-resistant Kit mutant.