Combined inhibition of AIF/CHCHD4 interaction and GLS1 to exploit metabolic vulnerabilities in pediatric osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is a malignant bone tumor with a high risk of metastatic relapse and poor outcomes due to primary and acquired chemoresistance. This highlights the medical need to develop effective targeted approaches to overcome chemoresistance. Recent studies have revealed the roles of metabolic reprogramming and mitochondria-nucleus crosstalk in osteosarcoma progression, indicating the potential of these cellular processes as therapeutic targets. The complex formed by mitochondrial apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and coiled-coil-helix-coiled-coil-helix domain-containing protein 4 (CHCHD4) orchestrates the import and oxidative folding of cysteine-rich, nuclear-encoded proteins, thereby regulating key mitochondrial functions and metabolism. Here, we identified mitoxantrone as an inhibitor of the AIF/CHCHD4 mitochondrial import machinery and revealed a new mitoxantrone-induced metabolic vulnerability in some osteosarcoma cell line models, characterized by intracellular glutamine accumulation and an increase in nucleotide synthesis. As a result, synergy was found between mitoxantrone and the glutaminase inhibitor telaglenastat in both in vitro and in vivo osteosarcoma models. Collectively, our findings position the AIF/CHCHD4 complex as a druggable therapeutic target and provide a combination strategy for mitoxantrone/telaglenastat treatment to overcome metabolic adaptations and chemoresistance in osteosarcoma. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=126 SRC="FIGDIR/small/716303v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (22K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1229e58org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1c9af45org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@120d2borg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@11e8216_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG