Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most fatal subtype of breast cancer; however, effective treatment strategies for TNBC are lacking. Therefore, it is important to explore the mechanism of TNBC metastasis and identify its therapeutic targets. Dysregulation of ETHE1 leads to ethylmalonic encephalopathy in humans; however, the role of ETHE1 in TNBC remains elusive. Stable cell lines with ETHE1 overexpression or knockdown were constructed to explore the biological functions of ETHE1 during TNBC progression in vitro and in vivo. Mass spectrometry was used to analyze the molecular mechanism through which ETHE1 functions in TNBC progression. ETHE1 had no impact on TNBC cell proliferation and xenograft tumor growth but promoted TNBC cell migration and invasion in vitro and lung metastasis in vivo. The effect of ETHE1 on TNBC cell migratory potential was independent of its enzymatic activity. Mechanistic investigations revealed that ETHE1 interacted with eIF2α and enhanced its phosphorylation by promoting the interaction between eIF2α and GCN2. Phosphorylated eIF2α in turn upregulated the expression of ATF4, a transcriptional activator of genes involved in cell migration and tumor metastasis. Notably, inhibition of eIF2α phosphorylation through ISRIB or ATF4 knockdown partially abolished the tumor-promoting effect of ETHE1 overexpression. ETHE1 has a functional and mechanistic role in TNBC metastasis and offers a new therapeutic strategy for targeting ETHE1-propelled TNBC using ISRIB.
Keywords: cancer invasion and metastasis; ethylmalonic encephalopathy protein 1; integrated stress response; triple-negative breast cancer.