Acetyltransferase NAT10 regulates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway to promote colorectal cancer progression via ac4C acetylation of KIF23 mRNA

Abstract Background N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) as a significant RNA modification has been reported to maintain the stability of mRNA and to regulate the translation process. However, the roles of both ac4C and its ‘writer’ protein N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10) played in the disease especially colorectal cancer (CRC) are unclear. At this point, we discover the underlying mechanism of NAT10 modulating the progression of CRC via mRNA ac4C modification. Methods The clinical significance of NAT10 was explored based on the TCGA and GEO data sets and the 80 CRC patients cohort of our hospital. qRT-PCR, dot blot, WB, and IHC were performed to detect the level of NAT10 and ac4C modification in CRC tissues and matched adjacent tissues. CCK-8, colony formation, transwell assay, mouse xenograft, and other in vivo and in vitro experiments were conducted to probe the biological functions of NAT10. The potential mechanisms of NAT10 in CRC were clarified by RNA-seq, RIP-seq, acRIP-seq, luciferase reporter assays, etc. Results The levels of NAT10 and ac4C modification were significantly upregulated. Also, the high expression of NAT10 had important clinical values like poor prognosis, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, etc. Furthermore, the in vitro experiments showed that NAT10 could inhibit apoptosis and enhance the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells and also arrest them in the G2/M phase. The in vivo experiments discovered that NAT10 could promote tumor growth and liver/lung metastasis. In terms of mechanism, NAT10 could mediate the stability of KIF23 mRNA by binding to its mRNA 3’UTR region and up-regulating its mRNA ac4c modification. And then the protein level of KIF23 was elevated to activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and more β-catenin was transported into the nucleus which led to the CRC progression. Besides, the inhibitor of NAT10, remodelin, was applied in vitro and vivo which showed an inhibitory effect on the CRC cells. Conclusions NAT10 promotes the CRC progression through the NAT10/KIF23/GSK-3β/β-catenin axis and its expression is mediated by GSK-3β which forms a feedback loop. Our findings provide a potential prognosis or therapeutic target for CRC and remodelin deserves more attention. Graphical Abstract