Despite advances in cancer therapy, the clinical outcome of patients with gastric cancer remains poor, largely due to tumor heterogeneity. Thus, finding a hidden vulnerability of clinically refractory subtypes of gastric cancer is crucial. Here, we report that chemoresistant gastric cancer cells rely heavily on endocytosis, facilitated by caveolin-1, for survival. caveolin-1 was highly upregulated in the most malignant stem-like/EMT/mesenchymal (SEM)-type gastric cancer cells, allowing caveolin-1-mediated endocytosis and utilization of extracellular proteins via lysosomal degradation. Downregulation of caveolin-1 alone was sufficient to induce cell death in SEM-type gastric cancer cells, emphasizing its importance as a survival mechanism. Consistently, chloroquine, a lysosomal inhibitor, successfully blocked caveolin-1-mediated endocytosis, leading to the marked suppression of tumor growth in chemorefractory gastric cancer cells in vitro, including patient-derived organoids, and in vivo. Together, our findings suggest that caveolin-1-mediated endocytosis is a key metabolic pathway for gastric cancer survival and a potential therapeutic target.
© 2023. The Author(s).