IMPDH1/YB-1 Positive Feedback Loop Assembles Cytoophidia and Represents a Therapeutic Target in Metastatic Tumors

Abstract Recently, cytoophidium, a non-membrane-bound intracellular polymeric structure, has been shown to exist in various organisms, including tumor tissues, but its function and mechanism have not yet been examined. Examination of cytoophidia-assembled gene IMPDH and CTPS mRNA levels showed that only IMPDH1 levels were significantly higher in the clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). IMPDH1 was positively correlated with the metastasis-related gene YB-1, and served as an independent prognostic factor in ccRCC. Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated that patients with tumors that expressed high IMPDH1 levels had a shorter overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Furthermore, detection of cytoophidia by immunofluorescence staining in ccRCC tissues showed that IMPDH1-assembled cytoophidia are positively associated with tumor metastasis. Mechanistically, IMPDH1 and YB-1 formed an autoregulatory positive feedback loop: IMPDH1 maintained YB-1 protein stabilization; YB-1 induced IMPDH1 expression by binding to the IMPDH1 promoter motif. Functionally, IMPDH1-assembled cytoophidia physically interacted with YB-1 and translocated YB-1 into the cell nucleus, thus correlating with ccRCC metastasis. Our findings provide the first solid theoretical rationale for targeting the IMPDH1/YB-1 axis to improve metastatic renal cancer treatment.