ATAD2 drives melanoma growth and progression and inhibits ferroptosis

Melanoma is a highly metastatic form of skin cancer for which current therapies offer limited benefits. We show here that the histone reader ATAD2 is overexpressed in melanoma and predicts poor prognosis, and that the MAP kinase pathway, via the transcription factor E2F1, stimulates ATAD2 expression. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of ATAD2 suppresses the growth and metastasis of BRAF and NRAS mutant melanoma. Mechanistically, we show that ATAD2 inhibition activates both distinct and common tumor-suppressive pathways in BRAF and NRAS mutant melanoma. In particular, we find that ATAD2 inhibition induces ferroptosis in both contexts by downregulating the ferroptosis suppressor GPX4. The ferroptosis inducer erastin also inhibits melanoma growth. Combining the ATAD2 inhibitor BAY-850 with the MEK inhibitor trametinib potently suppresses melanoma growth. Our study identifies ATAD2 as a key driver of melanoma and provides a rationale for targeting ATAD2 in conjunction with the MAPK pathway to treat melanoma.