CYLD deficiency enhances metabolic reprogramming and tumor progression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma via PFKFB3

Aberrant cancer metabolism contributes to cell proliferation and tumor progression. However, the contribution of enhanced glycolysis, observed during cancer metabolism, to the pathogenesis and progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains unclear. CYLD, an NF-κB inhibitor, is frequently deficient in NPC. Here, we investigated the role of CYLD in the metabolic reprogramming of NPC and found that restoration of CYLD expression suppressed glycolysis in NPC cells. Mechanistic dissection showed that CYLD stabilized p53 and facilitated its nuclear translocation, thereby enhancing p53 activity by removing K63-linked and K48-linked ubiquitin chains of p53, which can bind to the PFKFB3 promoter and inhibit its transcription. Additionally, CYLD interacted with FZR1 to promote APC/C-FZR1 E3 ligase activity, which further ubiquitinated and degraded PFKFB3 via the 26S proteasomal system. Furthermore, clinical tissue array analysis indicated that low expression of CYLD was correlated with high expression of PFKFB3 and poor prognosis among patients with NPC. In conclusion, CYLD suppressed PFKFB3 expression via two factors, namely, p53 and FZR1, to inhibit glycolysis and delay tumor growth and progression in NPC. CYLD is a biomarker indicating poor prognosis of patients with NPC.