{
  "abstract": "Targeting mitophagy is a potential strategy to tackle chemoresistance and improve chemotherapy in cancer. Ku80 is reported to play a role in chemoresistance and could exert non-canonical functions in mitophagy, but the mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, we report that increased expression of Ku80 leads to prominent mitophagy in liver cancer cells and tissues. Mechanistically, Ku80 directly regulates Rab7A to enhance formation of mitolysosomes. Elevated cytoplasmic levels of Ku80 and Rab7A in liver cancer tissues correlate with improved disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) and significantly enhance the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in surgical liver cancer patients. Several FDA-approved drugs can be repurposed as mitophagy activators, which enhance the chemotherapeutic agent epirubicin and Ku80/Rab7A interactions. Therefore, we have discovered the non-canonical role of Ku80 in mitophagy by directly regulating Rab7A in liver cancer, which is a potentially druggable and molecular subtyping strategy to improve chemotherapy outcomes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China",
    "Department of Anesthesiology, the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China",
    "Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center of Molecular Imaging, the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China",
    "Department of Pathology, the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China",
    "Department of Oncology, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China",
    "Department of Interventional Radiology, Guangzhou Institute of Cancer Research, the Affiliated Cancer Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 13,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Baojia Zou",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8023-3434"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Lukun Yang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yihua Dai"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Peiping Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Manyao Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Bailiang He"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jianzhong He"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Decheng Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "En Lin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Chaonong Cai"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Yiguang Lin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4637-9701"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Mingjian Lu",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8786-5968"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jian Li",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5144-2410"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ecsxfwncg0t17.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s42003-026-10554-9",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13696723/",
  "id": "ecsxfwncg0t17",
  "issns": [
    "2399-3642"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10554-9",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2713|Autophagy in Disease and Therapy"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7167274731",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-10554-9_reference.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13696723",
  "pmid": "42399387",
  "published": "2026-07-03",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ecsxfwncg0t17.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13696723",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10554-9"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2713|Autophagy in Disease and Therapy",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Non-canonical role of Ku80 stabilizes Rab7A to enhance mitolysosome formation and chemotherapy in liver cancer",
  "title_text": "Non-canonical role of Ku80 stabilizes Rab7A to enhance mitolysosome formation and chemotherapy in liver cancer",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:34:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ecsxfwncg0t17",
  "venue": "Communications Biology",
  "versions": []
}