Malignant Phenotypes in Metastatic Melanoma are Governed by SR-BI and its Association with Glycosylation and STAT5 Activation

Abstract

Metastatic melanoma is hallmarked by elevated glycolytic flux and alterations in cholesterol homeostasis. The contribution of cholesterol transporting receptors for the maintenance of a migratory and invasive phenotype is not well defined. Here, the scavenger receptor class B type I (SCARB1/SR-BI), a high-density lipoprotein (HDL) receptor, was identified as an estimator of melanoma progression in patients. We further aimed to identify the SR-BI-controlled gene expression signature and its related cellular phenotypes. On the basis of whole transcriptome analysis, it was found that SR-BI knockdown, but not functional inhibition of its cholesterol-transporting capacity, perturbed the metastasis-associated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype. Furthermore, SR-BI knockdown was accompanied by decreased migration and invasion of melanoma cells and reduced xenograft tumor growth. STAT5 is an important mediator of the EMT process and loss of SR-BI resulted in decreased glycosylation, reduced DNA binding, and target gene expression of STAT5. When human metastatic melanoma clinical specimens were analyzed for the abundance of SR-BI and STAT5 protein, a positive correlation was found. Finally, a novel SR-BI-regulated gene profile was determined, which discriminates metastatic from nonmetastatic melanoma specimens indicating that SR-BI drives gene expression contributing to growth at metastatic sites. Overall, these results demonstrate that SR-BI is a highly expressed receptor in human metastatic melanoma and is crucial for the maintenance of the metastatic phenotype. High SR-BI expression in melanoma is linked with increased cellular glycosylation and hence is essential for a metastasis-specific expression signature. .

Scavenger receptor BI promotes cytoplasmic accumulation of lipoproteins in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma

“… 6 ), colony formation, migration, and invasion of ccRCC cells as well as expression and phosphorylation of Akt ( 6 ). SR-BI has also been associated with carcinogenic features in breast cancer, prostate cancer, and melanoma ( 54 , 55 ).…”

SR-BI Interactome Analysis Reveals a Proviral Role for UGGT1 in Hepatitis C Virus Entry

“…Folding progress of these N-glycosylated proteins is monitored by UGGT1 that selectively recognizes and reglucosylates misfolded and misassembled glycoproteins (Hebert and Molinari, 2012). Previous study found that SR-BI facilitates STAT5 O-glycosylation (Kinslechner et al, 2018). Interestingly, we found a strong association of UGGT1 and SR-BI, which is unique because that not all N-glycosylated protein strongly interacted with UGGT1.…”

Scavenger Receptor BI Promotes Cytoplasmic Accumulation of Lipoproteins in Clear-Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

“…In line with an oncogenic role, knock down of SR-BI was found to inhibit proliferation (Figure 9, ref (6)), colony formation, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells as well as expression and phosphorylation of Akt (6). SR-BI has also been associated with carcinogenic features in breast cancer, prostate cancer, and melanoma (54,55).…”