The mitochondrial fission factor FIS1 promotes stemness of human lung cancer stem cells via mitophagy
Doudou Liu,
Zhiwei Sun,
Ting Ye,
Jingyuan Li,
Bin Zeng,
Qiting Zhao,
Jianyu Wang,
Hongmei Rosie Xing
Affiliations
Doudou Liu
State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine Co‐Founded by Chongqing and the Ministry of Science and Technology School of Biomedical Engineering Chongqing Medical University China
Zhiwei Sun
State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine Co‐Founded by Chongqing and the Ministry of Science and Technology School of Biomedical Engineering Chongqing Medical University China
Ting Ye
State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine Co‐Founded by Chongqing and the Ministry of Science and Technology School of Biomedical Engineering Chongqing Medical University China
Jingyuan Li
State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine Co‐Founded by Chongqing and the Ministry of Science and Technology School of Biomedical Engineering Chongqing Medical University China
Bin Zeng
State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine Co‐Founded by Chongqing and the Ministry of Science and Technology School of Biomedical Engineering Chongqing Medical University China
Qiting Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine Co‐Founded by Chongqing and the Ministry of Science and Technology School of Biomedical Engineering Chongqing Medical University China
Jianyu Wang
Institute of Life Sciences Chongqing Medical University China
Hongmei Rosie Xing
State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine Co‐Founded by Chongqing and the Ministry of Science and Technology School of Biomedical Engineering Chongqing Medical University China
Mitophagy, a form of autophagy, plays a role in cancer development, progression and recurrence. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) also play a key role in these processes, although it not known whether mitophagy can regulate the stemness of CSCs. Here, we employed the A549‐SD human non‐small cell lung adenocarcinoma CSC model that we have developed and characterized to investigate the effect of mitophagy on the stemness of CSCs. We observed a positive relationship between mitophagic activity and the stemness of lung CSCs. At the mechanistic level, our results suggest that augmentation of mitophagy in lung CSCs can be induced by FIS1 through mitochondrial fission. In addition, we assessed the clinical relevance of FIS1 in lung adenocarcinoma using The Cancer Genome Atlas database. An elevation in FIS1, when observed together with other prognostic markers for lung cancer progression, was found to correlate with shorter overall survival.
