Suppression of Microtubule Acetylation Mediates Theanti-Leukemic Effect of CDK9 Inhibition

Suppression of Microtubule Acetylation Mediates the Anti-Leukemic Effect of CDK9 Inhibition

Xi Xie1, BaoyuanZhang1, Ping Liu1, Ruibao Ren1,2

1. Shanghai Institute of Hematology, State Key Laboratory for Medical Genomics, National Research Center for Translational Medicine at Shanghai, International Center for Aging and Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

2. International Center for Aging and Cancer, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, Hainan Province, China.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) is a crucial component of transcription and potential target for anti-cancer therapies, particularly for hematological malignancies. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of CDK9 inhibitors remain not fully understood. Here, we found that inhibiting CDK9 either pharmacologically or through gene downregulation, significantly reduced the levels of α-tubulin protein in a time- and dose-dependent manner. We further discovered that CDK9 inhibition led to increased susceptibility of α-tubulin to proteasomal degradation due to reduced acetylation at lysine 40 (K40), an important modification for microtubule stability. An acetylation-mimicking mutant of α-tubulin mitigated the anti-tumor effects of CDK9 inhibition. Mechanically, we identified that CDK9 inhibition downregulated the expression of ATAT1, the acetyltransferase responsible for α-tubulin acetylation, further compromising microtubule stability. Our study unravels a novel molecular mechanism by which CDK9 inhibition disrupts α-tubulin stability and provides valuable insights for exploring effective treatment regimens involving CDK9 inhibitors.