RNA-binding protein RALY reprogrammes mitochondrial metabolism via mediating miRNA processing in colorectal cancer

Dysregulated cellular metabolism is a distinct hallmark of human colorectal cancer (CRC). However, metabolic programme rewiring during tumour progression has yet to be fully understood.

We analysed altered gene signatures during colorectal tumour progression, and used a complex of molecular and metabolic assays to study the regulation of metabolism in CRC cell lines, human patient-derived xenograft mouse models and tumour organoid models.

We identified a novel RNA-binding protein, RALY (also known as hnRNPCL2), that is highly associated with colorectal tumour aggressiveness. RALY acts as a key regulatory component in the Drosha complex, and promotes the post-transcriptional processing of a specific subset of miRNAs (miR-483, miR-676 and miR-877). These miRNAs systematically downregulate the expression of the metabolism-associated genes (ATP5I, ATP5G1, ATP5G3 and CYC1) and thereby reprogramme mitochondrial metabolism in the cancer cell. Analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) reveals that increased levels of RALY are associated with poor prognosis in the patients with CRC expressing low levels of mitochondrion-associated genes. Mechanistically, induced processing of these miRNAs is facilitated by their N6-methyladenosine switch under reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress. Inhibition of the m⁶A methylation abolishes the RALY recognition of the terminal loop of the pri-miRNAs. Knockdown of RALY inhibits colorectal tumour growth and progression in vivo and in organoid models.

Collectively, our results reveal a critical metabolism-centric role of RALY in tumour progression, which may lead to cancer therapeutics targeting RALY for treating CRC.