NAT10 promotes the progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma by regulating ac4C acetylation of NFE2L3 and activating AKT/GSK3β signaling pathway

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common histological subtype of renal cell carcinoma, and the tumour growth and metastasis of ccRCC are related to prognosis. N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) is one of the major modifications of RNA and is known to be mediated by N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10). The role of NAT10 in cancer is gradually being revealed, although the role of NAT10-mediated RNA ac4C modification in ccRCC has not been reported. In this study, NAT10 was found to be upregulated in ccRCC tissues and associated with a poor prognosis in patients. HIF-1α activated NAT10 expression at the transcriptional level. CCK8, EdU, Transwell and scratch assays after NAT10 knockdown or overexpression showed that NAT10 promoted cell proliferation and migration. The results of subcutaneous xenograft and caudal vein injection showed that NAT10 promoted tumour growth and metastasis in vivo, while Remodelin inhibited tumour growth. The acRIP-seq, RIP, RNA stability and dual luciferase reporter experiments showed that NAT10 activated ac4C acetylation of NFE2L3 mRNA and promoted NFE2L3 mRNA stability. The ChIP-seq results showed that NFE2L3 regulated the expression of LASP1 and thus activated the AKT/GSK3β signalling pathway. In summary, our results suggest that NAT10 mediates ac4C acetylation of NFE2L3 mRNA, promotes its mRNA stability, regulates the LASP1-AKT/GSK3β/β-catenin axis and promotes the progression of renal clear cell carcinoma.