Telomere-to-mitochondria signalling by ZBP1 mediates replicative crisis

Joe Nassour, Lucia Gutierrez Aguiar, Adriana Correia, Tobias T. Schmidt, Laura Mainz, Sara Przetocka, Candy Haggblom, Nimesha Tadepalle, April Williams, Maxim N. Shokhirev, Semih C. Akincilar, Vinay Tergaonkar, Gerald S. Shadel () and Jan Karlseder ()
Additional contact information
Joe Nassour: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Lucia Gutierrez Aguiar: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Adriana Correia: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Tobias T. Schmidt: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Laura Mainz: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Sara Przetocka: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Candy Haggblom: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Nimesha Tadepalle: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
April Williams: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Maxim N. Shokhirev: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Semih C. Akincilar: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB)
Vinay Tergaonkar: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB)
Gerald S. Shadel: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Jan Karlseder: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Nature, 2023, vol. 614, issue 7949, 767-773

Abstract: Abstract Cancers arise through the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic alterations that enable cells to evade telomere-based proliferative barriers and achieve immortality. One such barrier is replicative crisis—an autophagy-dependent program that eliminates checkpoint-deficient cells with unstable telomeres and other cancer-relevant chromosomal aberrations1,2. However, little is known about the molecular events that regulate the onset of this important tumour-suppressive barrier. Here we identified the innate immune sensor Z-DNA binding protein 1 (ZBP1) as a regulator of the crisis program. A crisis-associated isoform of ZBP1 is induced by the cGAS–STING DNA-sensing pathway, but reaches full activation only when associated with telomeric-repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) transcripts that are synthesized from dysfunctional telomeres. TERRA-bound ZBP1 oligomerizes into filaments on the outer mitochondrial membrane of a subset of mitochondria, where it activates the innate immune adapter protein mitochondrial antiviral-signalling protein (MAVS). We propose that these oligomerization properties of ZBP1 serve as a signal amplification mechanism, where few TERRA–ZBP1 interactions are sufficient to launch a detrimental MAVS-dependent interferon response. Our study reveals a mechanism for telomere-mediated tumour suppression, whereby dysfunctional telomeres activate innate immune responses through mitochondrial TERRA–ZBP1 complexes to eliminate cells destined for neoplastic transformation.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05710-8

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