A non-canonical role for glutamate decarboxylase 1 in cancer cell amino acid homeostasis, independent of the GABA shunt.
Glutamate decarboxylase 1 (GAD1) is best known for its role in producing the neurotransmitter {gamma}-amino butyric acid (GABA) as part of the "GABA shunt" metabolic pathway, an alternative mechanism of glutamine anaplerosis for TCA cycle metabolism (Yogeeswari et al., 2005). However, understanding of the metabolic function of GAD1 in non-neuronal tissues has remained limited. Here, we show that GAD1 supports cancer cell proliferation independent of the GABA shunt. Despite its elevated expression in lung cancer tissue, GAD1 is not engaged in the GABA shunt in proliferating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, but rather is required for regulating amino acid homeostasis. Silencing GAD1 promotes a broad deficiency in amino acid uptake, leading to reduced glutamine-dependent TCA cycle metabolism and defects in serum- and amino acid-stimulated mTORC1 activation. Mechanistically, GAD1 regulates amino acid uptake through ATF4-dependent amino acid transporter expression including SLC7A5 (LAT1), an amino acid transporter required for branched chain amino acid (BCAA) uptake. Overexpression of LAT1 rescues the proliferative and mTORC1 signalling defects of GAD1-deficient tumor cells. Our results, therefore, define a non-canonical role for GAD1, independent of its characterised role in GABA metabolism, whereby GAD1 regulates amino acid homeostasis to maintain tumor cell proliferation.