USP47 stabilizes BACH1 to promote the Warburg effect and non-small cell lung cancer development via stimulating Hk2 and Gapdh transcription.

Increasing studies demonstrated that ubiquitination plays a crucial part in the pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and targeted adjustment of the deubiquitination enzymes is a potential means for cancer treatment. However, the role of ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase 47 (USP47) in NSCLC is still unclear. Here, we show that USP47 was upregulated in NSCLC clinical tissues and greatly related to advanced tumor stages and survival rate. Functional experimental results showed that USP47 promoted the cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. And the overexpression of USP47 promoted the glycolysis capacity of lung cancer cells. Mechanistic investigations showed that USP47 promoted NSCLC development, which depends a lot on directly binding to and deubiquitination of the basic leucine zipper transcription factor 1 (BACH1, BTB and CNC homology 1). BACH1 was also significantly overexpressed in primary NSCLC tissues and positively correlated with the expression of USP47. The promotion of USP47 on the Warburg effect and NSCLC progression was mediated by the deubiquitination of BACH1 and the downstream transcriptional regulation of hexokinase 2 (Hk2) and glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase (Gapdh). Therefore, targeting USP47/BACH1 axis might offer a new way to inhibit the progression of NSCLC.