RHOA^L57V drives the development of diffuse gastric cancer through IGF1R-PAK1-YAP1 signaling

Cancer-associated mutations in the guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) RHOA are found at different locations from the mutational hotspots in the structurally and biochemically related RAS. Tyr⁴²-to-Cys (Y42C) and Leu⁵⁷-to-Val (L57V) substitutions are the two most prevalent RHOA mutations in diffuse gastric cancer (DGC). RHOA^Y42C exhibits a gain-of-function phenotype and is an oncogenic driver in DGC. Here, we determined how RHOA^L57V promotes DGC growth. In mouse gastric organoids with deletion of Cdh1, which encodes the cell adhesion protein E-cadherin, the expression of RHOA^L57V, but not of wild-type RHOA, induced an abnormal morphology similar to that of patient-derived DGC organoids. RHOA^L57V also exhibited a gain-of-function phenotype and promoted F-actin stress fiber formation and cell migration. RHOA^L57V retained interaction with effectors but exhibited impaired RHOA-intrinsic and GAP-catalyzed GTP hydrolysis, which favored formation of the active GTP-bound state. Introduction of missense mutations at KRAS residues analogous to Tyr⁴² and Leu⁵⁷ in RHOA did not activate KRAS oncogenic potential, indicating distinct functional effects in otherwise highly related GTPases. Both RHOA mutants stimulated the transcriptional co-activator YAP1 through actin dynamics to promote DGC progression; however, RHOA^L57V additionally did so by activating the kinases IGF1R and PAK1, distinct from the FAK-mediated mechanism induced by RHOA^Y42C. Our results reveal that RHOA^L57V and RHOA^Y42C drive the development of DGC through distinct biochemical and signaling mechanisms.