GNA14’s interaction with RACK1 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma progression through reducing MAPK/JNK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

Gαq subfamily proteins play critical roles in many biological functions including cardiovascular development, angiogenesis, and tumorigenesis of melanoma. However, the understanding of G Protein Subunit Alpha 14 (GNA14) in diseases, especially in cancers is limited. Here, we revealed that GNA14 was significantly low expression in Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples. Low GNA14 expression was correlated with aggressive clinicopathological features. Moreover, the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of high GNA14 expression HCC patients were much better than low GNA14 expression group. Lentivirus-mediated GNA14 knockdown significantly promoted the growth of liver cancer in vitro and in vivo. However, opposing results were observed when GNA14 is upregulated. Mechanistically, We identified receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) as a binding partner of GNA14 by co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry (MS). Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) pull-down assay further verified the direct interaction between GNA14 and RACK1. RNA-Seq and loss- and gain-of-function assays also confirmed that GNA14 reduced the activity of both MAPK/JNK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways through RACK1. GNA14 synergized with U73122 (PLC inhibitor) to enhance this effect. Further studies suggested that GNA14 potentially competed with protein kinase C (PKC) to bind with RACK1, consequently reducing the stability of PKC. Moreover, we also showed that GNA14’supression of p-AKT protein level depended on sufficient RACK1 expression. In conclusion, we indicated a different role of GNA14, which acted as a suppressor inhibiting liver cancer progression through MAPK/JNK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. Due to this, GNA14 served as a potentially valuable prognostic biomarker for liver cancer.