Immortalization-upregulated protein promotes pancreatic cancer progression by regulating NPM1/FHL1-mediated cell-cycle-checkpoint protein activity

Immortalization-upregulated protein (IMUP) plays a vital role in cell proliferation and tumor progression. However, its role in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unclear. Here, we select IMUP as an alternative gene based on GeneChip analysis of clinical PDAC tissues and transcriptome data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. IMUP expression is upregulated in PDAC tumor tissues. Moreover, high IMUP expression correlates with poor prognosis, while IMUP depletion inhibits PDAC cell proliferation and colony formation capacity in vitro, and decreases xenograft tumor growth in vivo. IMUP downregulation leads to cell-cycle arrest in the S phase. IMUP knockdown increases the expression of four-and-a-half LIM domain protein 1 (FHL1), which regulates the phosphorylation of cell division cycle 25A (CDC25A) by cycle checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) and promotes cytoplasmic distribution of CDC25A by interaction with 14–3-3ξ. Furthermore, FHL1 knockdown restores the effects induced by IMUP depletion. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and immunoprecipitation analysis further show that IMUP interacts directly with nucleophosmin (NPM1) and enhances its stability. DNA methylation sequencing shows that FHL1 promoter methylation decreases when IMUP is downregulated. Overexpression of NPM1 can increase the methylation level of FHL1 , thereby decreasing its expression. Our study provides a novel perspective on IMUP/NPM1/FHL1-mediated cell-cycle arrest by regulating CDC25A phosphorylation in PDAC. These findings may provide a new therapeutic target for PDAC. Graphical abstract