Sorafenib kills liver cancer cells by disrupting SCD1‐mediated synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids via the ATP‐AMPK‐mTOR‐SREBP1 signaling pathway

ABSTRACT Sorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor that is effective in treating advanced liver cancer. Although its mechanism of action through several established cancer‐related protein kinase targets is well‐characterized, sorafenib induces variable responses among human tumors, and the cause for this variation is yet unknown. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, we applied mass spectrometry‐based proteomic analysis to Huh7.5 human liver cancer cells and found that sorafenib significantly affected the expression of the key lipogenic enzymes, especially stearoyl coenzyme A desaturase 1 (SCD1), in these cells. Given that SCD1 catalyzes the most crucial and rate‐limiting step in the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids (FAs), we performed a lipidomic analysis, which showed a dramatically altered lipid profile in sorafenib‐treated cells. Detection and analysis of free FAs showed that the levels of monounsaturated FAs, including oleate, were significantly decreased in those cells treated by sorafenib. Addition of oleate protected liver cancer cells from sorafenib‐induced death and alleviated the abnormalities of mitochondrial morphology and function caused by the drug. Treatment with sorafenib suppressed ATP production, resulting in AMPK activation via phosphorylation. Further secondary effects included reduction of the levels of sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 1 (SREBP1) and the phosphorylation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in liver cancer cells. These effects were partly abolished in the presence of compound C (an AMPK inhibitor) and ATP and adenosine, and SREBP1c overexpression also could be resistant to the effects of sorafenib, suggesting that the sorafenib‐induced reduction in cell viability was mediated by the ATP‐AMPK‐mTOR‐SREBP1 signaling pathway. Taken together, our results suggest that sorafenib's anticancer activity in liver cancer cells is based on the inhibition of ATP production, SCD1 expression, and monounsaturated FA synthesis. In addition, the decreased monounsaturated FA synthesis further triggered the more serious reduction of ATP production in sorafenib‐treated cells. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that sorafenib disrupts lipogenesis and triggers liver cancer cell death by targeting SCD1 through the ATP‐AMPK‐mTOR‐SREBP1 pathway.—Liu, G., Kuang, S., Cao, R., Wang, J., Peng, Q., Sun, C. Sorafenib kills liver cancer cells by disrupting SCD1‐mediated synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids via the ATP‐AMPK‐mTOR‐ SREBP1 signaling pathway. FASEB J. 33,10089‐10103 (2019). www.fasebj.org