STAT3 enhances sensitivity of glioblastoma to drug-induced autophagy-dependent cell death
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a devastating disease and the most common primary brain malignancy of adults with a median survival barely exceeding one year. Recent findings suggest that the antipsychotic drug pimozide triggers an autophagy-dependent, lysosomal type of cell death in GBM cells with possible i...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
11 January 2022
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| In: |
Cancers
Year: 2022, Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Pages: 1-23 |
| ISSN: | 2072-6694 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/cancers14020339 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020339 Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/339 
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| Author Notes: | Janina Remy, Benedikt Linder, Ulrike Weirauch, Bryan W. Day, Brett W. Stringer, Christel Herold-Mende, Achim Aigner, Knut Krohn and Donat Kögel |
| Summary: | Glioblastoma (GBM) is a devastating disease and the most common primary brain malignancy of adults with a median survival barely exceeding one year. Recent findings suggest that the antipsychotic drug pimozide triggers an autophagy-dependent, lysosomal type of cell death in GBM cells with possible implications for GBM therapy. One oncoprotein that is often overactivated in these tumors and associated with a particularly dismal prognosis is Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3). Here, we used isogenic human and murine GBM knockout cell lines, advanced fluorescence microscopy, transcriptomic analysis and FACS-based assessment of cell viability to show that STAT3 has an underappreciated, context-dependent role in drug-induced cell death. Specifically, we demonstrate that depletion of STAT3 significantly enhances cell survival after treatment with Pimozide, suggesting that STAT3 confers a particular vulnerability to GBM. Furthermore, we show that active STAT3 has no major influence on the early steps of the autophagy pathway, but exacerbates drug-induced lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) and release of cathepsins into the cytosol. Collectively, our findings support the concept of exploiting the pro-death functions of autophagy and LMP for GBM therapy and to further determine whether STAT3 can be employed as a treatment predictor for highly apoptosis-resistant, but autophagy-proficient cancers. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 23.09.2022 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 2072-6694 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/cancers14020339 |