p53 drives lung cancer regression through a TSC2/TFEB-dependent senescence program
Menée in vitro et à l'aide de modèles murins d'adénocarcinome du poumon, cette étude met en évidence un mécanisme par lequel la protéine p53 favorise la régression tumorale via un programme de sénescence cellulaire dépendant de la transactivation directe de la protéine TSC2 et l'accumulation nucléaire du facteur de transcription TFEB
Pharmacological restoration of p53 tumor suppressor function is a conceptually appealing therapeutic strategy for the many deadly cancers with compromised p53 activity, including lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, the p53 pathway has remained undruggable, partly because of insufficient understanding of how to drive effective therapeutic responses without toxicity. Here, we use mouse and human models to deconstruct the transcriptional programs and sequelae underlying robust therapeutic responses in LUAD. We show that p53 drives potent tumor regression by direct Tsc2 transactivation, leading to mTORC1 inhibition and TFEB nuclear accumulation, which in turn triggers lysosomal gene expression programs, autophagy, and cellular senescence. Senescent LUAD cells secrete factors to recruit macrophages, precipitating cancer cell phagocytosis and tumor regression. Collectively, our analyses reveal a surprisingly complex cascade of events underlying a p53 therapeutic response in LUAD and illuminate targetable nodes for p53 combination therapies, thus establishing a critical framework for optimizing p53-based therapeutics.
Cancer Discovery , article en libre accès, 2025