2. Academic Validation
  3. Josephin Domain Containing 2 (JOSD2) inhibition as Pan-KRAS-mutation-targeting strategy for colorectal cancer

Josephin Domain Containing 2 (JOSD2) inhibition as Pan-KRAS-mutation-targeting strategy for colorectal cancer

  • Nat Commun. 2025 Apr 16;16(1):3623. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58923-y.
Tao Yuan 1,  Yue Liu 1,  Ruilin Wu 1,  Meijia Qian 1,  Weihua Wang 1,  Yonghao Li 1,  Hongdao Zhu 1,  Jia'er Wang 1,  Fujing Ge 1,  Chenming Zeng 2,  Xiaoyang Dai 3,  Ronggui Hu 4,  Tianhua Zhou 5,  Qiaojun He 1 6,  Hong Zhu 7 8,  Bo Yang 9 10
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
  • 2 Innovation Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
  • 3 Center for Drug Safety Evaluation and Research of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
  • 4 Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
  • 5 Department of Cell Biology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
  • 6 Engineering Research Center of Innovative Anticancer Drugs, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, China.
  • 7 Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. hongzhu@zju.edu.cn.
  • 8 Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China. hongzhu@zju.edu.cn.
  • 9 Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. yang924@zju.edu.cn.
  • 10 School of Medicine, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, China. yang924@zju.edu.cn.
PMID: 40240366 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58923-y
Abstract

KRAS is the most common mutated oncogenes in colorectal Cancer (CRC), yet effective therapeutic strategies for targeting multiple KRAS mutations remained challenging. The prolonged protein stability of KRAS mutants contribute to their robust tumor-promoting effects, but the underlying mechanism is elusive. Herein by screening deubiquitinases (DUBs) siRNA library, we identify Josephin domain containing 2 (JOSD2) functions as a potent DUB that regulates the protein stability of KRAS mutants. Mechanistically, JOSD2 directly interacts with and stabilizes KRAS variants across different mutants, by reverting their proteolytic ubiquitination; while KRAS mutants reciprocally inhibit the catalytic activity of CHIP, a bona fide E3 ubiquitin Ligase for JOSD2, thus forming a JOSD2/KRAS positive feedback circuit that significantly accelerates KRAS-mutant CRC growth. Inhibition of JOSD2 by RNA interference or its pharmacological inhibitor promotes the polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of KRAS mutants, and preferentially impede the growth of KRAS-mutant CRC including patient-derived cells/xenografts/organoids (PDCs/PDXs/PDOs) over that harboring wild-type KRAS. Collectively, this study not only reveals the crucial roles of JOSD2/KRAS positive feedback circuit in KRAS-mutant CRC, but also provides a rationale to target JOSD2 as the promising pan-KRAS-mutation-targeting strategy for the treatment of a broad population of CRC patients with KRAS variant across different mutant types.

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