Nicotine addiction and the occurrence of lymph node spread are two major significant factors associated with esophageal cancer's poor prognosis; however, nicotine's role in inducing lymphatic metastasis of esophageal cancer remains unclear. Here we show that OTU domain-containing protein 3 (OTUD3) is downregulated by nicotine and correlates with poor prognosis in heavy-smoking esophageal cancer patients. OTUD3 directly interacts with ZFP36 ring finger protein (ZFP36) and stabilizes it by inhibiting FBXW7-mediated K48-linked polyubiquitination. ZFP36 binds with the VEGF-C 3-'UTR and recruits the RNA degrading complex to induce its rapid mRNA decay. Downregulation of OTUD3 and ZFP36 is essential for nicotine-induced VEGF-C production and lymphatic metastasis in esophageal cancer. This study establishes that the OTUD3/ZFP36/VEGF-C axis plays a vital role in nicotine addiction-induced lymphatic metastasis, suggesting that OTUD3 may serve as a prognostic marker, and induction of the VEGF-C mRNA decay might be a potential therapeutic strategy against human esophageal cancer.
© 2021. The Author(s).