Receptor tyrosine kinase AXL regulates Golgi organization and function through an adhesion-Arf1 signaling axis in breast and lung cancers

Cell-matrix adhesion regulates membrane trafficking, Golgi organisation and function. Differential Golgi organisation in cancer cells could drive changes in trafficking and processing of cargoes. A simple screen evaluating Golgi organisation identifies breast (MDAMB231 vs MCF7) and lung cancer (A549 vs CaLu1) cell line pairs with differently organised Golgi, regulated differentially by loss of adhesion. In silico analysis of differentially expressed genes in the CCLE database, evaluated for their association with the Golgi in interaction networks and literature, identified AXL as a putative regulator of Golgi in these cancers. AXL prominently localized at the Golgi, undergoes displacement from the Golgi when inhibited by R428 and knocked down using siRNA, causing the Golgi to disorganize. AXL-dependent regulation of Golgi organisation is also dependent on cell-matrix adhesion. AXL binds active Arf1, whose recruitment to the Golgi is vital for its organisation. On loss of adhesion, loss of AXL and active Arf1 from the Golgi, drives its disorganization to affect Golgi-dependent microtubule acetylation and cell surface glycosylation in MDAMB231 and A549 cells respectively. Together, this validates our screen to identify novel regulators of the Golgi, and identifies AXL-Arf1 crosstalk as a vital mediator of its organisation and function in cancer cells.