Copper depletion modulates mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to impair triple negative breast cancer metastasis
Divya Ramchandani, Mirela Berisa, Diamile A Tavarez, Zhuoning Li, Matthew Miele, Yang Bai, Sharrell B Lee, Yi Ban, Noah Dephoure, Ronald C Hendrickson, Suzanne M Cloonan, Dingcheng Gao, Justin R Cross, Linda T Vahdat, Vivek Mittal, Divya Ramchandani, Mirela Berisa, Diamile A Tavarez, Zhuoning Li, Matthew Miele, Yang Bai, Sharrell B Lee, Yi Ban, Noah Dephoure, Ronald C Hendrickson, Suzanne M Cloonan, Dingcheng Gao, Justin R Cross, Linda T Vahdat, Vivek Mittal
Abstract
Copper serves as a co-factor for a host of metalloenzymes that contribute to malignant progression. The orally bioavailable copper chelating agent tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been associated with a significant survival benefit in high-risk triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. Despite these promising data, the mechanisms by which copper depletion impacts metastasis are poorly understood and this remains a major barrier to advancing TM to a randomized phase II trial. Here, using two independent TNBC models, we report a discrete subpopulation of highly metastatic SOX2/OCT4+ cells within primary tumors that exhibit elevated intracellular copper levels and a marked sensitivity to TM. Global proteomic and metabolomic profiling identifies TM-mediated inactivation of Complex IV as the primary metabolic defect in the SOX2/OCT4+ cell population. We also identify AMPK/mTORC1 energy sensor as an important downstream pathway and show that AMPK inhibition rescues TM-mediated loss of invasion. Furthermore, loss of the mitochondria-specific copper chaperone, COX17, restricts copper deficiency to mitochondria and phenocopies TM-mediated alterations. These findings identify a copper-metabolism-metastasis axis with potential to enrich patient populations in next-generation therapeutic trials.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00195091.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare no competing interests.
© 2021. The Author(s).
Figures
References
- Garrido-Castro AC, Lin NU, Polyak K. Insights into molecular classifications of triple-negative breast cancer: improving patient selection for treatment. Cancer Discov. 2019;9:176–198.
- Malhotra MK, Emens LA. The evolving management of metastatic triple negative breast cancer. Semin. Oncol. 2020;47:229–237.
- Fouani L, Menezes SV, Paulson M, Richardson DR, Kovacevic Z. Metals and metastasis: exploiting the role of metals in cancer metastasis to develop novel anti-metastatic agents. Pharm. Res. 2017;115:275–287.
- Frezza M, et al. Novel metals and metal complexes as platforms for cancer therapy. Curr. Pharm. Des. 2010;16:1813–1825.
- Weiss KH, et al. WTX101 in patients newly diagnosed with Wilson disease: final results of a global, prospective phase 2 trial. J. Hepatol. 2017;66:S88.
- Safi R, et al. Copper signaling axis as a target for prostate cancer therapeutics. Cancer Res. 2014;74:5819–5831.
- Ge, E. J. et al. Connecting copper and cancer: from transition metal signalling to metalloplasia. Nat Rev Cancer 10.1038/s41568-021-00417-2 (2021).
- Brewer GJ, et al. Treatment of metastatic cancer with tetrathiomolybdate, an anticopper, antiangiogenic agent: Phase I study. Clin. Cancer Res. 2000;6:1–10.
- Brewer GJ, Merajver SD. Cancer therapy with tetrathiomolybdate: antiangiogenesis by lowering body copper—a review. Integr. Cancer Ther. 2002;1:327–337.
- Hassouneh B, et al. Tetrathiomolybdate promotes tumor necrosis and prevents distant metastases by suppressing angiogenesis in head and neck cancer. Mol. Cancer Ther. 2007;6:1039–1045.
- Pan Q, et al. Copper deficiency induced by tetrathiomolybdate suppresses tumor growth and angiogenesis. Cancer Res. 2002;62:4854–4859.
- Blockhuys S, et al. Defining the human copper proteome and analysis of its expression variation in cancers. Metallomics. 2017;9:112–123.
- Lowndes S, Harris A. Copper chelation as an antiangiogenic therapy. Oncol. Res. 2004;14:529–539.
- Marttila-Ichihara F, Auvinen K, Elima K, Jalkanen S, Salmi M. Vascular adhesion protein-1 enhances tumor growth by supporting recruitment of Gr-1+ CD11b+ myeloid cells into tumors. Cancer Res. 2009;69:7875–7883.
- Groleau J, et al. Essential role of copper-zinc superoxide dismutase for ischemia-induced neovascularization via modulation of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 2010;30:2173–2181.
- Brady DC, et al. Copper is required for oncogenic BRAF signalling and tumorigenesis. Nature. 2014;509:492–496.
- Sammons S, Brady D, Vahdat L, Salama AK. Copper suppression as cancer therapy: the rationale for copper chelating agents in. Melanoma Manag. 2016;3:207–216.
- Tsang T, et al. Copper is an essential regulator of the autophagic kinases ULK1/2 to drive lung adenocarcinoma. Nat. Cell Biol. 2020;22:412–424.
- Liao Y, et al. Inflammation mobilizes copper metabolism to promote colon tumorigenesis via an IL-17-STEAP4-XIAP axis. Nat. Commun. 2020;11:900.
- Voli F, et al. Intratumoral copper modulates PD-L1 expression and influences tumor immune evasion. Cancer Res. 2020;80:4129–4144.
- Blockhuys S, Zhang X, Wittung-Stafshede P. Single-cell tracking demonstrates copper chaperone Atox1 to be required for breast cancer cell migration. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2020;117:2014–2019.
- Pan Q, Rosenthal DT, Bao L, Kleer CG, Merajver SD. Antiangiogenic tetrathiomolybdate protects against Her2/neu-induced breast carcinoma by hypoplastic remodeling of the mammary gland. Clin. Cancer Res. 2009;15:7441–7446.
- Chan N, et al. Influencing the tumor microenvironment: a Phase II Study of copper depletion using tetrathiomolybdate in patients with breast cancer at high risk for recurrence and in preclinical models of lung metastases. Clin. Cancer Res. 2017;23:666–676.
- O’Shaughnessy J, et al. Phase III study of iniparib plus gemcitabine and carboplatin versus gemcitabine and carboplatin in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 2014;32:3840–3847.
- Hu XC, et al. Cisplatin plus gemcitabine versus paclitaxel plus gemcitabine as first-line therapy for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (CBCSG006): a randomised, open-label, multicentre, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2015;16:436–446.
- Pascual G, Domínguez D, Benitah SA, et al. The contributions of cancer cell metabolism to metastasis. Dis. Model. Mech. 2018;11:dmm032920. doi: 10.1242/dmm.032920.
- LeBleu VS, et al. PGC-1α mediates mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative phosphorylation in cancer cells to promote metastasis. Nat. Cell Biol. 2014;16:1001–1015.
- Dupuy F, et al. PDK1-dependent metabolic reprogramming dictates metastatic potential in breast cancer. Cell Metab. 2015;22:577–589.
- Warburg O, Wind F, Negelein E. The metabolism of tumors in the body. J. Gen. Physiol. 1927;8:519–530.
- Pavlova NN, Thompson CB. The emerging hallmarks of cancer metabolism. Cell Metab. 2016;23:27–47.
- Cruz-Bermudez A, et al. PGC-1alpha levels correlate with survival in patients with stage III NSCLC and may define a new biomarker to metabolism-targeted therapy. Sci. Rep. 2017;7:16661.
- Liu L, et al. S100A4 alters metabolism and promotes invasion of lung cancer cells by up-regulating mitochondrial complex I protein NDUFS2. J. Biol. Chem. 2019;294:7516–7527.
- Ashton TM, McKenna WG, Kunz-Schughart LA, Higgins GS. Oxidative phosphorylation as an emerging target in cancer therapy. Clin. Cancer Res. 2018;24:2482–2490.
- Curtis C, et al. The genomic and transcriptomic architecture of 2,000 breast tumours reveals novel subgroups. Nature. 2012;486:346–352.
- Minn AJ, et al. Genes that mediate breast cancer metastasis to lung. Nature. 2005;436:518–524.
- Johnstone CN, et al. Functional and molecular characterisation of EO771.LMB tumours, a new C57BL/6-mouse-derived model of spontaneously metastatic mammary cancer. Dis. Models Mech. 2015;8:237–251.
- Yomtoubian S, et al. Inhibition of EZH2 catalytic activity selectively targets a metastatic subpopulation in triple-negative breast cancer. Cell Rep. 2020;30:755–770e756.
- Ramchandani D, et al. Nanoparticle delivery of miR-708 mimetic impairs breast cancer metastasis. Mol. Cancer Ther. 2019;18:579–591.
- Horn D, Barrientos A. Mitochondrial copper metabolism and delivery to cytochrome c oxidase. IUBMB Life. 2008;60:421–429.
- Cogliati S, Enriquez JA, Scorrano L. Mitochondrial cristae: where beauty meets functionality. Trends Biochem. Sci. 2016;41:261–273.
- Kim BE, Nevitt T, Thiele DJ. Mechanisms for copper acquisition, distribution and regulation. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2008;4:176–185.
- Lutsenko S. Human copper homeostasis: a network of interconnected pathways. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2010;14:211–217.
- Takahashi Y, et al. Mammalian copper chaperone Cox17p has an essential role in activation of cytochrome C oxidase and embryonic development. Mol. Cell. Biol. 2002;22:7614–7621.
- Hell K, Tzagoloff A, Neupert W, Stuart RA. Identification of Cox20p, a novel protein involved in the maturation and assembly of cytochrome oxidase subunit 2. J. Biol. Chem. 2000;275:4571–4578.
- Spinelli JB, Haigis MC. The multifaceted contributions of mitochondria to cellular metabolism. Nat. Cell Biol. 2018;20:745–754.
- Gowans GJ, Hardie DG. AMPK: a cellular energy sensor primarily regulated by AMP. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 2014;42:71–75.
- Gwinn DM, et al. AMPK phosphorylation of raptor mediates a metabolic checkpoint. Mol. Cell. 2008;30:214–226.
- Canto C, Auwerx J. AMP-activated protein kinase and its downstream transcriptional pathways. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 2010;67:3407–3423.
- Choo AY, Yoon SO, Kim SG, Roux PP, Blenis J. Rapamycin differentially inhibits S6Ks and 4E-BP1 to mediate cell-type-specific repression of mRNA translation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2008;105:17414–17419.
- Qin X, Jiang B, Zhang Y. 4E-BP1, a multifactor regulated multifunctional protein. Cell Cycle. 2016;15:781–786.
- Zhou H, Huang S. Role of mTOR signaling in tumor cell motility, invasion and metastasis. Curr. Protein Pept. Sci. 2011;12:30–42.
- Chen K, et al. Loss of AMPK activation promotes the invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer through an HSF1-dependent pathway. Mol. Oncol. 2017;11:1475–1492.
- Cool B, et al. Identification and characterization of a small molecule AMPK activator that treats key components of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. Cell Metab. 2006;3:403–416.
- Pavithra V, et al. Serum levels of metal ions in female patients with breast cancer. J. Clin. Diagn. Res. 2015;9:BC25–c27.
- Kim KI, et al. Detection of increased 64Cu uptake by human copper transporter 1 gene overexpression using PET with 64CuCl2 in human breast cancer xenograft model. J. Nucl. Med. 2014;55:1692–1698.
- Ishida S, Andreux P, Poitry-Yamate C, Auwerx J, Hanahan D. Bioavailable copper modulates oxidative phosphorylation and growth of tumors. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2013;110:19507–19512.
- Ryumon S, et al. Ammonium tetrathiomolybdate enhances the antitumor effect of cisplatin via the suppression of ATPase copper transporting beta in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Oncol. Rep. 2019;42:2611–2621.
- Viale A, Corti D, Draetta GF. Tumors and mitochondrial respiration: a neglected connection. Cancer Res. 2015;75:3685–3686.
- Yu M. Generation, function and diagnostic value of mitochondrial DNA copy number alterations in human cancers. Life Sci. 2011;89:65–71.
- Badet J, et al. Specific binding of angiogenin to calf pulmonary artery endothelial cells. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 1989;86:8427–8431.
- Erler JT, et al. Lysyl oxidase is essential for hypoxia-induced metastasis. Nature. 2006;440:1222–1226.
- Kim KK, et al. Tetrathiomolybdate inhibits mitochondrial complex IV and mediates degradation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha in cancer cells. Sci. Rep. 2015;5:14296.
- Glasauer A, Sena LA, Diebold LP, Mazar AP, Chandel NS. Targeting SOD1 reduces experimental non-small-cell lung cancer. J. Clin. Investig. 2014;124:117–128.
- Shanbhag V, et al. ATP7A delivers copper to the lysyl oxidase family of enzymes and promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2019;116:6836–6841.
- Erler JT, et al. Hypoxia-induced lysyl oxidase is a critical mediator of bone marrow cell recruitment to form the premetastatic niche. Cancer Cell. 2009;15:35–44.
- Cox TR, et al. LOX-mediated collagen crosslinking is responsible for fibrosis-enhanced metastasis. Cancer Res. 2013;73:1721–1732.
- Berven LA, Willard FS, Crouch MF. Role of the p70(S6K) pathway in regulating the actin cytoskeleton and cell migration. Exp. Cell Res. 2004;296:183–195.
- Yi Y, et al. Transcriptional suppression of AMPKalpha1 promotes breast cancer metastasis upon oncogene activation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2020;117:8013–8021.
- Saxena M, et al. AMP-activated protein kinase promotes epithelial–mesenchymal transition in cancer cells through Twist1 upregulation. J. Cell Sci. 2018;131:jcs208314. doi: 10.1242/jcs.208314.
- Chou CC, et al. AMPK reverses the mesenchymal phenotype of cancer cells by targeting the Akt–MDM2–Foxo3a signaling axis. Cancer Res. 2014;74:4783–4795.
- Liu L, et al. Rapamycin inhibits cell motility by suppression of mTOR-mediated S6K1 and 4E-BP1 pathways. Oncogene. 2006;25:7029–7040.
- Mullard A. Cancer metabolism pipeline breaks new ground. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2016;15:735–737.
- Goodwin PJ, et al. Effect of metformin vs placebo on and metabolic factors in NCIC CTG MA.32. J. Natl Cancer Inst. 2015;107:djv006. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djv006.
- Meric-Bernstam F, et al. CB-839, a glutaminase inhibitor, in combination with cabozantinib in patients with clear cell and papillary metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC): results of a phase I study. J. Clin. Oncol. 2019;37:549–549.
- Covini D, et al. Expanding targets for a metabolic therapy of cancer: l-asparaginase. Recent Pat. Anticancer Drug Discov. 2012;7:4–13.
- McAlister GC, et al. MultiNotch MS3 enables accurate, sensitive, and multiplexed detection of differential expression across cancer cell line proteomes. Anal. Chem. 2014;86:7150–7158.
- Navarrete-Perea J, Yu Q, Gygi SP, Paulo JA. Streamlined tandem mass tag (SL-TMT) protocol: an efficient strategy for quantitative (phospho)proteome profiling using tandem mass tag-synchronous precursor selection-MS3. J. Proteome Res. 2018;17:2226–2236.
- Venegas V, Halberg MC. Measurement of mitochondrial DNA copy number. Methods Mol. Biol. 2012;837:327–335.
Source: PubMed