Nuclear ubiquitination permits Hippo–YAP signal for liver development and tumorigenesis

Abstract

Hippo–YAP signaling is crucial to organ development and tumorigenesis. VGLL4, which occupies TEAD to prevent YAP binding, is the main transcriptional repressor of Hippo–YAP activity. Here we identified the nuclear E3 ligase ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component n-recognin 5 (UBR5) poly-ubiquitinated VGLL4 at Lys61 for its degradation, which permits Hippo–YAP signaling for the development of the liver biliary system in mice and multiple cancers in humans. In mouse liver development, Ubr5 and Vgll4 exhibited reciprocal expression patterns spatiotemporally. Ubr5 deletion impaired cholangiocyte development and hepatocyte reprogramming, which could be efficiently rescued by restoring Hippo–YAP through ablating Vgll4. We also found that the UBR5–VGLL4–YAP axis is associated with the progression of human pan-cancers. Targeting nuclear E3 ligases in multiple types of patient-derived tumor organoids suppressed their expansion. Our identification of UBR5 as the bona fide E3 ligase of VGLL4 offers a molecular framework of nuclear Hippo–YAP regulation and suggests nuclear ubiquitination as a potential therapeutic target for YAP-dependent malignancies.