Alpha-enolase (ENO1), identified as an antigen to monoclonal antibody 12C7, promotes the self-renewal and malignant phenotype of lung cancer stem cells by AMPK/mTOR pathway

BACKGROUND: Tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) can be targeted in cancer therapy. We previously identified a monoclonal antibody (mAb) 12C7, which presented anti-tumor activity in lung cancer stem cells (LCSCs). Here, we aimed to identify the target antigen for 12C7 and confirm its role in LCSCs. METHODS: Immunofluorescence was used for antigen localization. After targeted antigen purification by electrophoresis and immunoblot, the antigen was identified by LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry, immunofluorescence, and immunoprecipitation. The overexpression or silence of ENO1 was induced by lentiviral transduction. Self-renewal, growth, and invasion of LCSCs were evaluated by sphere formation, colony formation, and invasion assay, respectively. High-throughput transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) and bioinformatics analysis were performed to analyze downstream targets and pathways of targeted antigen. RESULTS: Targeted antigen showed a surface antigen expression pattern, and the 43–55 kDa protein band was identified as α-enolase (ENO1). Self-renewal, growth, and invasion abilities of LCSCs were remarkably inhibited by ENO1 downregulation, while enhanced by ENO1 upregulation. RNA-seq and bioinformatics analysis eventually screened 4 self-renewal-related and 6 invasion-related differentially expressed genes. GSEA analysis and qRT-PCR verified that ENO1 regulated self-renewal, invasion-related genes, and pathways. KEGG pathway analysis and immunoblot demonstrated that ENO1 inactivated AMPK pathway and activated mTOR pathway in LCSCs. CONCLUSIONS: ENO1 is identified as a targeted antigen of mAb 12C7 and plays a pivotal role in facilitating self-renewal, growth, and invasion of LCSCs. These findings provide a potent therapeutic target for the stem cell therapy for lung cancer and have potential to improve the anti-tumor activity of 12C7.