Polysome Profiling Suggests Vhl-Dependent Translational Control In Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Abstract ccRCC is the most common type of renal carcinoma with 80% of incidence among all types of kidney neoplasms. Most cases are localized in the kidney and potentially curable after nephrectomy however about 30% of patients will relapse with distant metastasis. Metastatic patients comprehend one third of all cases and, despite the advances in therapies, they still have low response rates. The identification of molecular mechanisms associated with ccRCC is essential to understand disease progression and treatment resistance. Genes frequently mutated in ccRCC affect the activation of signaling pathways including the mTOR pathway which can cause an unbalance in translational control. Another frequent mutation is in the tumor suppressor gene VHL which regulates response under hypoxia. Hypoxia affects gene expression by both translational and transcriptional controls that contributes to tumor formation and disease progression. Here we aim to understand how translational control can contribute to ccRCC development. We evaluated the activity of mTOR pathway and translational control in cell lines and PDX models with VHL mutation through polysome profiling. We observed lower global translational rates in both VHL mutated models suggesting an important role in translational control. Differentially translated genes identified from polysome associated RNA show a specific translational signature in response to VHL deletion. For human tumors, a cohort of 118 cases was selected between metastatic and non-metastatic patients available at A.C. Camargo Cancer Center Tumor Tissue Biobank. Polysome profiling was performed for all cases and show that increased translational rates are associated with reduced overall and progression-free survival. Citation Format: Julia A. Vassalakis, Stenio C. Zequi, Stephania M. Bezerra, Walter H. da Costa, Ola Larsson, Ivan Topisirovic, Glaucia N. Hajj. Polysome profiling suggests VHL-dependent translational control in clear cell renal cell carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2441.