Cancer cachexia is a systemic inflammation-driven syndrome, characterized by muscle atrophy and adipose tissue wasting, with progressive weight loss leading to serious impairment of physiological function. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from cancer cells play a significant role in adipocyte lipolysis, yet the mechanism remain uneclucidated. In this study, EVs derived from Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells were extracted and characterized. 3 T3-L1 and HIB1B adipocytes were cultured with conditioned medium or EVs from LLC, and LLC cells were used to establish a cancer cachexia mouse model. EVs derived from LLC cells were taken up by 3 T3-L1 and HIB1B adipocytes, and derived exosomal EIF5A protein-induced lipolysis of adipocytes. High level of EIF5A was expressed in EVs from LLC cells, exosomal EIF5A is linked to lipid metabolism. Elevated expression of EIF5A is associated with shorter overall survival in lung cancer patients. Western blots, glycerol release and Oil red O staining assays were used to evaluate lipolysis of adipocytes. The reduction of lipolysis in 3 T3-L1 and HIB1B adipocytes is achieved through silencing EIF5A or treating with pharmacologic inhibitor GC7 in vitro, and suppressing the expression of EIF5A in LLC cells by infected with shRNA or GC7 treatment partly alleviated white and brown adipose tissue lipolysis in vivo. Mechanistically, EIF5A directly binds with G protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1 (GPBAR1) mRNA to promote its translation and then activates cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) signaling pathway to induce lipolysis. This study demonstrates that exosomal EIF5A from LLC cells, with hypusinated EIF5A, has a lipolytic effect on adipocyte and adipose tissues in cancer cachexia model. Exosomal EIF5A could be involved in lipolysis and these findings indicate that a novel regulator and potential target for cachexia treatment.
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