Abstract Metabolic dysregulation and the communications between cancer and immune cells are emerging as two essential features of malignant tumors. In this study, we observed that nuclear localization of phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) associates with poor prognosis of liver cancer patients, and Phgdh is required for liver cancer progression in a mouse model. Unexpectedly, the impairment of Phgdh enzyme activity exerts a slight effect on liver cancer model, indicating PHGDH contributes to liver cancer progression mainly depending on its non-metabolic roles with nuclear location. PHGDH uses its ACT domain to bind cMyc in nuclear and forms a transactivation axis “PHGDH/p300/cMyc/AF9” which drives CXCL1/8 gene expression. Chemokines CXCL1/8 promotes neutrophils recruitment and then supports tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) filtration in liver, thereby urging liver cancer into advanced stages. Forced cytosolic location of PHGDH or destruction of the PHGDH/cMyc interaction abolishes the oncogenic function of nuclear PHGDH. Collectively, this study reveals a non-metabolic role of PHGDH with altered cellular location in liver cancer, and suggests a promising drug target for liver cancer therapy by targeting the interaction between PHGDH and “undruggable” cMyc.

Nuclear PHGDH promotes neutrophil recruitment to drive liver cancer progression