Paradoxical downregulation of LPAR3 exerts tumor-promoting activity through autophagy induction in Ras-transformed cells

BACKGROUND: Lysophosphatidic acid receptor 3 (LPAR3) is coupled to Gα(i/o) and Gα(11/q) signaling. Previously, we reported that LPAR3 is highly methylated in carcinogen-induced transformed cells. Here, we demonstrate that LPAR3 exhibits malignant transforming activities, despite being downregulated in transformed cells. METHODS: The LPAR3 knockout (KO) in NIH 3 T3 and Bhas 42 cells was established using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Both RT-PCR and DNA sequencing were performed to confirm the KO of LPAR3. The cellular effects of LPAR3 KO were further examined by WST-1 assay, immunoblotting analysis, transwell migration assay, colony formation assay, wound scratch assday, in vitro cell transformation assay, and autophagy assay. RESULTS: In v-H-ras-transformed cells (Ras-NIH 3 T3) with LPAR3 downregulation, ectopic expression of LPAR3 significantly enhanced the migration. In particular, LPAR3 knockout (KO) in Bhas 42 (v-Ha-ras transfected Balb/c 3 T3) and NIH 3 T3 cells caused a decrease in cell survival, transformed foci, and colony formation. LPAR3 KO led to the robust accumulation of LC3-II and autophagosomes and inhibition of autophagic flux by disrupting autophagosome fusion with lysosome. Conversely, autolysosome maturation proceeded normally in Ras-NIH 3 T3 cells upon LPAR3 downregulation. Basal phosphorylation of MEK and ERK markedly increased in Ras-NIH 3 T3 cells, whereas being significantly lower in LPAR3 KO cells, suggesting that increased MEK signaling is involved in autophagosome–lysosome fusion in Ras-NIH 3 T3 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Paradoxical downregulation of LPAR3 exerts cooperative tumor-promoting activity with MEK activation through autophagy induction in Ras-transformed cells. Our findings have implications for the development of cancer chemotherapeutic approaches. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-10053-0.