Reconstruction of septin higher-order nano-size structures in ovarian cancer cells uncover susceptibility to the septin-targeting small molecule UR214-9

In cancer cells, septins assemble into enigmatic higher-order structures of 300-700 nanometers, including long needle-like filaments, thick perinuclear rings, and cytoplasmic bundles or aggregates. The absence of genetic or pharmacological tools to recapitulate these architectures in-vitro has impeded mechanistic studies of their formation, function, and therapeutic targeting. Here, first, determining the overexpression of septin-2 in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and its association with increased mortalities and dependencies, we select SKOV-3 ovarian cancer cells as a tractable model in which septin supramolecular assemblies can be recreated in-vitro and interrogated. This system shows that the forchlorfenuron (FCF) analog UR214-9 remodels septin architecture, converting co-expressed human septin octamers (SEPT2-SEPT6-SEPT7-SEPT9-SEPT9-SEPT7-SEPT6-SEPT2) into large cytoplasmic aggregates. In parallel, transiently expressed SEPT2 is reorganized into septin-rich noodle-like filaments, perinuclear rings, and web-like networks encircling the nucleus upon UR214-9 treatment. Mechanistically, UR214-9 disrupts the incorporation of SEPT2, SEPT7, and SEPT9 into canonical septin hetero-octamers, resulting in assembly-defective or imperfect oligomers that preferentially reorganize into these aberrant higher-order structures. This aggregation likely prevents septin-2 migration during interphase-to-cleavage furrow transition in NRK-49F-SEPT2-EGFP homozygous cells and impacts SKOV-3 cytokinesis, cell proliferation, adhesion and invasion and migration while sparing ceramide transport to the Golgi, preserving ER and cis-Golgi structure. These effects manifested in reduced growth of ovarian, endometrial and breast cancer xenografts without attracting significant off-target engagements per the global transcriptomic analysis of JIMT1 breast cancer and PANC-1 pancreatic cells. UR214-9 treated animals showed observable safety in animals. Thus, a tool to recreate aberrant septin structures and identification of septins as a druggable cytoskeletal target for ovarian, endometrial, breast and pancreatic cancer by perturbing their hetero-octamerization assembly is presented. SignificanceWe provide a method to reconstruct the higher-order septin architecture observed in cancer cells, to study their assembly and functions. Intriguingly, cancer cells tolerate hetero-oligomeric septins lacking specific subunits, suggesting that compositionally deficient oligomers are not efficiently targeted for degradation, unlike unincorporated septin monomers in normal cells. This tolerance may enable accumulation of structurally aberrant septin complexes acquiring long-needles, rings or thick-aggregates in disease cells. We further show that septin oligomerization can be pharmacologically perturbed. By integrating structural, cellular, and energetic readouts using in-silico techniques, we establish a quantitative framework for septin-targeted modulation, generating UR214-9 as a new chemotype that disrupts septin oligomeric assembly via preventing incorporation of SEPT2/7/9, into canonical hetero-octamers, causes defects in cytokinesis, altered cell migration, viability, and remodels septin-actin architectures, ultimately impairing tumor cell growth. Thus, pharmacological targeting of septin assembly represents a tractable strategy to perturb septin-dependent cellular processes in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases with reported septin dysregulation.