SNORA74A Drives Self-Renewal of Liver Cancer Stem Cells and Hepatocarcinogenesis Through Activation of Notch3 Signaling, Adv Sci, 24 Apr 2025
Advanced Science, 24 April, 2025, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202504054
SNORA74A Drives Self-Renewal of Liver Cancer Stem Cells and Hepatocarcinogenesis Through Activation of Notch3 Signaling
Ziheng Zhou, Yang Gu, Zhibin Yi, Jianyi Wang, Zhen Xiong, Hui Guo, Ying Du, Xiaoxiao Zhu, Lei He, Weizheng Ren, Yong Tian, Yanying Wang, Zusen Fan
Abstract
Liver cancer stem cells (CSCs) account for tumor initiation, heterogeneity and therapy resistance. However, the role of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) in the regulation of liver CSCs remains largely unclear. Here, this work identifies a conserved H/ACA box snoRNA SNORA74A which is highly expressed in liver CSCs. SNORA74A deletion impaired the self-renewal of liver CSCs and suppressed hepatocarcinogenesis. Mechanistically, highly expressed SNORA74A in liver CSCs bound DCAF13 to prevent K48 linked ubiquitination of E2F2 for degradation. E2F2 induced NOTCH3 transcription to initiate Notch3 signaling activation, leading to self-renewal of liver CSCs and hepatocarcinogenesis. Moreover, expression levels of SNORA74A and NOTCH3 are positively related with severity and poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Of note, antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) against SNORA74A showed effective efficacy for HCC tumors, suggesting SNORA74A might be a potential therapeutic target for HCC therapy by eliminating liver CSCs.
Article link:https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202504054