Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common form of kidney cancer and the major cause of mortality for individuals with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease. ccRCC is characterized most frequently by inactivation of VHL tumor suppressor protein that mediates degradation of the alpha subunit of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) transcription factor family. HIF has been implicated in disease progression and the aim of this study was to identify novel HIF target genes that may contribute to ccRCC. We show that GAL3ST1, an enzyme that catalyzes the sulfonation of the plasma membrane sulfolipid sulfatide, is among the top 50 upregulated genes in ccRCC tissue relative to matched normal tissue. Increased expression of GAL3ST1 in primary ccRCC correlates with decreased survival. We show that GAL3ST1 is a HIF target gene whose expression is induced upon VHL loss leading to the accumulation of its enzymatic product sulfatide. Notably, platelets bind more efficiently to renal cancer cells with high GAL3ST1-sulfatide expression than to GAL3ST1-sulfatide-negative counterparts, which protects ccRCC cells against natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity. These results suggest that GAL3ST1 is a HIF-responsive gene that may contribute to ccRCC development via promoting cancer cell evasion of immune surveillance. IMPLICATIONS: Cancer development is in part dependent on evasion of immune response. We identify a HIF target gene product GAL3ST1 that may play a role in this critical process.
©2019 American Association for Cancer Research.