Hyeyoung Nam, Ph.D., professor in the UAB Department of Urology, has been published in Science Advances alongside corresponding author, Sunil Sudarshan, M.D. and colleagues Richard L. Kirkman and Suman Karki, Ph.D. Their study, “HDAC7 promotes renal cancer progression by reprogramming branched-chain amino acid metabolism,” offers new insight into how kidney cancer cells grow and spread.

This study builds on the team’s previous research, which showed that a protein called HDAC7, part of a family of enzymes that help control which genes are turned on or off, affects how renal cancer cells generate energy. In their new study, they discovered that HDAC7 also blocks the activity of certain genes that help break down branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are essential nutrients the body uses for energy and muscle health.

By disrupting this process, HDAC7 causes the cancer cells to behave more aggressively.

“We found that HDAC7 suppresses the mRNA expression of the enzymes that break down BCAAs,” Nam explained. “This leads to increased activity of SNAIL1, a protein linked to more aggressive tumor traits, by activating a communication system between cells known as NOTCH signaling, which plays a key role in development and disease.”

These findings suggest that HDAC7 contributes to renal cell carcinoma (RCC) progression by acting as a transcriptional repressor, rewiring key metabolic pathways in the tumor. According to Nam, these “unique metabolic features of RCC cells could offer new developing therapeutic strategies and diagnostic tools.”

Looking ahead, her team aims to further define HDAC7’s role in promoting RCC metastasis and explore whether its activity depends on interactions with other HDAC class I members, such as HDAC1.