Abstract
The noncanonical NF-κB signaling pathway plays a critical role in a variety of biological functions including chronic inflammation and tumorigenesis. Activation of noncanonical NF-κB signaling largely relies on the abundance as well as the processing of the NF-κB family member p100/p52. Here, TRIM14 is identified as a novel positive regulator of the noncanonical NF-κB signaling pathway. TRIM14 promotes noncanonical NF-κB activation by targeting p100/p52 in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, a mechanistic study shows that TRIM14 recruits deubiquitinase USP14 to cleave the K63-linked ubiquitin chains of p100/p52 at multiple sites, thereby preventing p100/p52 from cargo receptor p62-mediated autophagic degradation. TRIM14 deficiency in mice significantly impairs noncanonical NF-κB-mediated inflammatory responses as well as acute colitis and colitis-associated colon cancer development. Taken together, these findings establish the TRIM14-USP14 axis as a crucial checkpoint that controls noncanonical NF-κB signaling and highlight the crosstalk between autophagy and innate immunity.