TRIM67 drives tumorigenesis in oligodendrogliomas through Rho GTPase-dependent membrane blebbing

Abstract

Oligodendrogliomas are a subtype of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutant gliomas defined by the co-deletion of chromosome arms 1p and 19q. Although the somatic genomic alterations of oligodendrogliomas have been well described, transcriptional changes unique to these tumors are not well studied. Here, we identify Tripartite Motif Containing 67 (TRIM67), an E3 ubiquitin ligase with essential roles during neuronal development, as an oncogene distinctly upregulated in oligodendrogliomas. We characterize the function of TRIM67 using high throughput assays, including RNA sequencing, total lysate-mass spectrometry (MS) and co-immunoprecipitation (IP)-MS using human neural progenitor cells and patient-derived glioma tumorspheres constitutively overexpressing TRIM67. Our high throughput data suggest that TRIM67 overexpression alters the abundance of cytoskeletal proteins, which were validated by functional assays, including immunofluorescence (IF) staining, co-IP and western blotting (WB). Additionally, IF staining results indicate that TRIM67 ectopic expression induces formation of membrane blebs in glioma cells, which could be reverted with the nonmuscle class II myosin inhibitor blebbistatin and selective ROCK inhibitor fasudil. GTP pulldown and WB assays further indicate that Rho GTPase/ROCK2 signaling is altered upon TRIM67 ectopic expression. Phenotypically, TRIM67 expression resulted in higher cell motility in wound healing experiments, reduced cell adherence in adhesion assays, accelerated tumor growth and reduced survival in mouse orthotopic implantation models of an oligodendroglioma-derived patient tumorsphere line. Taken together, our results demonstrate that upregulated TRIM67 induces blebbing-based rounded cell morphology through Rho GTPase/ROCK-mediated signaling thereby contributing to glioma pathogenesis. SignificanceWe identify TRIM67 as a novel oncogene in oligodendroglioma that leads to increased cell motility, tumor growth, reduced adhesion, and survival in mice. Our results also show that constitutive TRIM67 expression transforms cell morphology from an adherent to a rounded appearance with membrane blebs. Mechanistic alteration of actin cytoskeleton and Rho GTPase signaling upon TRIM67 upregulation underlies the rounded cell structure and the membrane blebbing phenotype. TRIM67-induced blebbing is specifically regulated by RHOA-RAC1-ROCK2 signaling axis. TRIM67 overexpression also alters pathways associated with cell migration and wound healing in various glioma cell lines and human neural progenitor cells, suggesting a general oncogenic mechanism in gliomas. Overall, our study highlights TRIM67 as a novel player orchestrating cytoskeleton, Rho GTPase signaling and bleb-based cell movement, ultimately causing tumorigenic outcomes in oligodendrogliomas.