Abstract
Copper is crucial for many physiological processes across mammalian cells, including energy metabolism, neurotransmitter synthesis, and antioxidant defense mechanisms. However, excessive copper levels can lead to cellular toxicity and "cuproptosis", a form of programmed cell death characterized by the accumulation of copper within mitochondria. Tumor cells are less sensitive to this toxicity than normal cells, the mechanism for which remains unclear. We address this important issue by exploring the role of heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), a transcription factor that is highly expressed across several types of cancer and has a crucial role in tumor survival, in protecting against copper-mediated cytotoxicity. Using pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells, we show that excessive copper triggers a proteotoxic stress response (PSR), activating HSF1 and that overexpressing HSF1 diminishes intracellular copper accumulation and prevents excessive copper-induced cell death and amyloid fibrils formation, highlighting HSF1's role in preserving proteasomal integrity. Copper treatment decreases the lipoylation of dihydrolipoamide S-acetyltransferase (DLAT), an enzyme necessary for cuproptosis, induces DLAT oligomerization, and induces insoluble DLAT formation, which is suppressed by overexpressing HSF1, in addition to enhancing the interaction between HSF1 and DLAT. Our findings uncover how HSF1 protects against copper-induced damage in cancer cells and thus represents a novel therapeutic target for enhancing copper-mediated cancer cell death.