TRIM47 promotes head and neck squamous cell carcinoma malignant progression by degrading XAF1 through ubiquitination

Tripartite motif-containing 47 (TRIM47) is a member of the TRIM family, which has E3 ligase activity and has been demonstrated to be involved in tumor development. In this work, we found that TRIM47 is highly expressed in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) tissues. TRIM47 overexpression promoted HNSCC cell proliferation. Downregulation of TRIM47 suppressed HNSCC cell proliferation and promoted apoptosis and autophagy. TRIM47 suppression caused cell proliferation inhibition and apoptosis promotion could be reversed by 3-MA, an autophagy inhibitor. In mechanism, TRIM47 interacted with XIAP-associated factor 1 (XAF1), promoting its ubiquitination and degradation. XAF1 promoted HNSCC cell apoptosis and autophagy. TRIM47 overexpression caused cell proliferation promotion and autophagy inhibition could be reversed by XAF1 overexpression. Animal experiments confirmed that the knockdown of TRIM47 inhibits tumor growth in vivo. Ultimately, TRIM47 promotes the ubiquitination and degradation of XAF1 and suppresses apoptosis and autophagy to promote the progression of HNSCC.