Suppression of ASNS expression by VHL-mediated ubiquitination hinders the progression of renal cell carcinoma through enhancing JUP expression and inhibiting PI3K-AKT and MAPK pathways.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a metabolic disorder and VHL gene inactivation is recognized as a crucial event in RCC progression. Investigating the specific metabolite that differ in VHL-mutant RCC and understanding how VHL regulates the metabolite may offer new insights into the underlying mechanisms of RCC. First, we employed untargeted metabolomics and ELISA to identify and confirm the differential metabolite in the plasma and tumor tissues of VHL-mutant RCC patients. Then, we demonstrated the importance of the differential metabolite in RCC progression through cell phenotype and animal experiments. Finally, we utilized western blotting, immunoprecipitation, ubiquitination modification proteomics, TMT proteomics, and RNA sequencing to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of VHL on the metabolite. By analyzing the metabolomics data from plasma and tumor tissues alongside subsequent expression validation, we identified L-Asparagine (L-Asn) as the differential metabolite in VHL-mutant RCC, with its levels significantly decreased in these tumors. L-Asn was found to promote the growth and metastasis of RCC cell lines and mouse orthotopic renal tumors. Mechanistically, VHL interacted with L-Asparagine synthase (ASNS) and facilitated its ubiquitination, leading to decreased ASNS expression, and ASNS overexpression activated PI3K-AKT and MAPK signaling pathways by binding to Junction plakoglobin (JUP) and inhibiting its expression. Conversely, use of an ASNS inhibitor significantly restrained the growth and metastasis of RCC cells in vitro and in vivo. In summary, our findings highlighted the critical role of L-Asn in RCC and identified ASNS as a novel substrate for VHL-mediated ubiquitination, presenting a potential new target for RCC treatment.