Constitutive UPRER activation sustains tumor cell differentiation

Abstract

Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) proteostasis control and the Unfolded Protein Response (UPRER) have been shown to contribute to tumor development and aggressiveness. As such, the UPRER sensor IRE1 (referred to as IRE1 hereafter) is a major regulator of glioblastoma (GBM) development and is an appealing therapeutic target. To document IRE1 suitability as an antineoplastic pharmacological target, we investigated how this protein contributed to GBM cell reprogramming, a property involved in treatment resistance and disease recurrence. Probing the IRE1 activity molecular signature on transcriptome datasets of human tumors, showed that high IRE1 activity correlated with low expression of the main GBM stemness transcription factors SOX2, SALL2, POU3F2 and OLIG2. Henceforth, this phenotype was pharmacologically and genetically recapitulated in immortalized and primary GBM cell lines as well as in mouse models. We demonstrated that constitutive activation of the IRE1/XBP1/miR148a signaling axis repressed the expression of SOX2 and led to maintenance of a differentiation phenotype in GBM cells. Our results describe a novel role for IRE1 signaling in maintaining differentiated tumor cell state and highlight opportunities of informed IRE1 modulation utility in GBM therapy.