Phosphorylation of MICAL2 by ARG promotes head and neck cancer tumorigenesis by regulating skeletal rearrangement

The actin cytoskeletal architecture provides the structural underpinnings for crucial cellular behaviors. In cancer cells, changes in the actin cytoskeleton may serve as prerequisites for proliferation, invasion, and metastatic dissemination. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we show that MICAL2, which is increased in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and inversely associated with patient survival, promotes HNSCC growth, invasion, and migration. MICAL2 serves as a flavoprotein monooxygenase and directly induces actin filament depolymerization by specifically oxidizing the methionine 44 and 47 residues of F-actin. The kinase ARG interacts with MICAL2 and augments MICAL2-mediated actin disassembly. Direct phosphorylation assay and mass spectrometry confirmed that ARG phosphorylates MICAL2 at Tyr445, Tyr463, and Tyr488. Substitution of the Tyr445 or Tyr463 residue of purified recombinant MICAL2-redox with phenylalanine (generating a non-phosphorylatable mutant) abolishes the enhanced MICAL2-mediated F-actin disassembly induced by ARG. Consistently, ectopic expression of non-phosphorylatable MICAL2 mutants (MICAL2Y445F and MICAL2Y463F, not MICAL2Y488F) failed to ameliorate HNSCC cell growth, whereas expression of wild-type MICAL2 or MICAL2Y488F rescued the impaired proliferation induced by MICAL2 knockdown. Moreover, CCG-1423, an inhibitor of MICAL2, was shown to inhibit HNSCC cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Taken together, our findings indicate that phosphorylation of MICAL2 at Tyr445 and Tyr463 by ARG mediates F-actin disassembly and promotes HNSCC progression.