Cited by 209Autophagy in Disease and TherapyMelanoma and MAPK PathwaysCalcium signaling and nucleotide metabolism

Atg7 Overcomes Senescence and Promotes Growth of Braf V600E-Driven Melanoma

Open access
Xie, Xiaoqi, Koh, Ju Yong, Price, Sandy, White, Eileen, Mehnert, Janice M.·2015·Cancer Discovery

Abstract

UNLABELLED: Macroautophagy (autophagy hereafter) may promote survival and growth of spontaneous tumors, including melanoma. We utilized a genetically engineered mouse model of melanoma driven by oncogenic BrafV600E and deficiency in the Pten tumor suppressor gene in melanocytes to test the functional consequences of loss of the essential autophagy gene autophagy-related-7, Atg7. Atg7 deficiency prevented melanoma development by BrafV600E and allelic Pten loss, indicating that autophagy is essential for melanomagenesis. Moreover, BrafV600E-mutant, Pten-null, Atg7-deficient melanomas displayed accumulation of autophagy substrates and growth defects, which extended animal survival. Atg7-deleted tumors showed increased oxidative stress and senescence, a known barrier to melanomagenesis. Treatment with the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib decreased tumor growth and induced senescence that was more pronounced in tumors with Atg7 deficiency. Thus, Atg7 promotes melanoma by limiting oxidative stress and overcoming senescence, and autophagy inhibition may be of therapeutic value by augmenting the antitumor activity of BRAF inhibitors. SIGNIFICANCE: The essential autophagy gene Atg7 promotes development of BrafV600E-mutant, Pten-null melanomas by overcoming senescence, and deleting Atg7 facilitated senescence induction and antitumor activity of BRAF inhibition. This suggests that combinatorial BRAFV600E and autophagy inhibition may improve therapeutic outcomes in patients whose tumors have BRAFV600E/K mutations, an approach currently being explored in clinical trials.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-14-1473

Cites

50 of 50 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In mice harbouring BrafV600E mutation and Pten loss, deletion of Atg7 facilitates melanoma formation by disabling senescence.

    “In mice harbouring a Braf V600E mutation and Pten loss, deletion of Atg7 , another autophagy- related gene, facilitates melanoma formation by disabling senescence 46 .”

    From Senescence and cancer — role and therapeutic opportunities (2022) · cites this paper as [46]

    The Results section on Pten-deficient melanomas reports that deleting both Atg7 alleles profoundly suppressed tumor growth rather than facilitating melanoma formation. The Results section on senescence reports that Atg7 deficiency increased senescence markers; it was ATG7 expression that suppressed senescence. Page numbers are not provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.95)

    Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The APOE variants exert cell-intrinsic effects on melanoma that impact primary tumor growth and metastatic capacity in a BrafV600E-driven GEMM.

    “We reveal that the APOE variants exert cell-intrinsic effects on melanoma that impact primary tumor growth and metastatic capacity in a BrafV600E-driven GEMM, a model that has provided numerous important insights into melanoma biology (12,38–40).”
  • Knockdown of Atg7 in these mice leads to accumulation of defective mitochondria and ROS, increased senescence, decreased proliferation, and increased apoptosis.

    “Knockdown of the essential autophagy gene Atg7 in these mice leads to accumulation of defective mitochondria and ROS, increased senescence, decreased proliferation, and increased apoptosis86.”
  • In BRAFV600E mutant melanoma models with PTEN deficiency, autophagy is required for tumorigenesis.

    “In models of BRAFV600E mutant melanoma with PTEN-deficiency, autophagy is required for tumorigenesis86.”
  • Increased autophagy increases cell survival in BRAFV600E mutant melanomas.

    “Increased autophagy has been shown to increase cell survival in BRAFV600E mutant melanomas85–87.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Xie, X., Koh, J. Y., Price, S., White, E., & Mehnert, J. M.
Affiliations
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
Corresponding author
  • White, Eileen
  • Mehnert, Janice M.
Venue
Cancer Discovery
Published
2015-04-01
Volume
5
Issue
4
Pages
410-423
ISSN
  • 2159-8274 (ISSN-L)
  • 2159-8290
OpenAlex
W2010656553
Cited by
208
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 5
FWCI
15.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cancer Discovery (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
  • National Cancer Institute (P30-CA72720, L30 CA136372, R01CA130893, P30CA072720, R01CA163591)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Melanoma and MAPK Pathways
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Physiology › Calcium signaling and nucleotide metabolism
Keywords
ATG7, autophagy, melanoma, BRAF V600E mutation, PTEN loss, cellular senescence, oxidative stress, dabrafenib, BRAF inhibitor combination therapy, melanomagenesis, autophagy inhibition
MeSH terms
Autophagy-Related Protein 7, Animals, Autophagy, Cell Transformation, Neoplastic, Disease Models, Animal, Heterozygote, Melanoma, Mice, Transgenic, Microtubule-Associated Proteins, Mutation, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Cellular Senescence, Gene Deletion, Oxidative Stress, Cell Line, Tumor, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf, Cell Proliferation, PTEN Phosphohydrolase, Mice, Gene Knockout Techniques

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review