Disruption of PABPN1 phase separation by SNRPD2 drives colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through promoting alternative polyadenylation of CTNNBIP1.

Generally shortened 3' UTR due to alternative polyadenylation (APA) is widely observed in cancer, but its regulation mechanisms for cancer are not well characterized. Here, with profiling of APA in colorectal cancer tissues and poly(A) signal editing, we firstly identified that the shortened 3' UTR of CTNNIBP1 in colorectal cancer promotes cell proliferation and migration. We found that liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of PABPN1 is reduced albeit with higher expression in cancer, and the reduction of LLPS leads to the shortened 3' UTR of CTNNBIP1 and promotes cell proliferation and migration. Notably, the splicing factor SNRPD2 upregulated in colorectal cancer, can interact with glutamic-proline (EP) domain of PABPN1, and then disrupt LLPS of PABPN1, which attenuates the repression effect of PABPN1 on the proximal poly(A) sites. Our results firstly reveal a new regulation mechanism of APA by disruption of LLPS of PABPN1, suggesting that regulation of APA by interfering LLPS of 3' end processing factor may have the potential as a new way for the treatment of cancer.