Myristoylation of Src kinase mediates Src-induced and high-fat diet–accelerated prostate tumor progression in mice

Abstract Exogenous fatty acids provide substrates for energy production and biogenesis of the cytoplasmic membrane, but they also enhance cellular signaling during cancer cell proliferation. However, it remains controversial whether dietary fatty acids are correlated with tumor progression. In this study, we demonstrate that increased Src kinase activity is associated with high-fat diet–accelerated progression of prostate tumors and that Src kinases mediate this pathological process. Moreover, in the in vivo prostate regeneration assay, host SCID mice carrying Src(Y529F)-transduced regeneration tissues were fed a low-fat diet or a high-fat diet and treated with vehicle or dasatinib. The high-fat diet not only accelerated Src-induced prostate tumorigenesis in mice but also compromised the inhibitory effect of the anticancer drug dasatinib on Src kinase oncogenic potential in vivo. We further show that myristoylation of Src kinase is essential to facilitate Src-induced and high-fat diet–accelerated tumor progression. Mechanistically, metabolism of exogenous myristic acid increased the biosynthesis of myristoyl CoA and myristoylated Src and promoted Src kinase–mediated oncogenic signaling in human cells. Of the fatty acids tested, only exogenous myristic acid contributed to increased intracellular myristoyl CoA levels. Our results suggest that targeting Src kinase myristoylation, which is required for Src kinase association at the cellular membrane, blocks dietary fat–accelerated tumorigenesis in vivo. Our findings uncover the molecular basis of how the metabolism of myristic acid stimulates high-fat diet–mediated prostate tumor progression.